Jacob's Escape, A Twilight Fanfiction
by hannahTWILIGHT
Summary: This is my first fanfic, and it's more of a "what if" kind of thing. Sort of my ideal ending for Breaking Dawn. So Nessie and Jake are on the run, and aren't sure whether anyone is still alive or not. Things aren't looking up so far. Leave a review
1. Chapter 1

If Alice Never Came Back (Jacob's Escape)

Jacob Black.

Fifty feet. They were fifty feet away. I saw them walking towards us before I registered that there was no apology in their eyes. But when I did finally figure it out, there was really no way to miss it. They were going to kill us. Bella knew this, too. And so did Edward, and Carlisle and all the others. I watched them all as they took defensive positions. I felt a little alone, standing there, the lone wolf, ironically enough, among the crowd of vampires. The guys had taken ranks in the fringe of the trees, but I wanted to be nearer to Bella. Okay, so closer to Bella was wrong. I wanted to be closer to Nessie, closer to the one thing that mattered at this point. Bella suddenly turned to me, urgency screaming from every point of her.

"Jacob," she whispered, so quietly. "Take Renesmee...take her far away and don't stop until you and her are both safe. She has all you need." Quickly and silently she slid Nessie off her back, and she climbed up onto mine.

Forty feet.

I stared at her like she was crazy. Take Nessie? Leave and not try to help? I could feel my eyes were wide, but I was too confused and shocked to conceal it.

I shook my head.

She sighed quietly, and her breath hitched. "Please, Jacob." The whisper was pained.

The pain I'd been holding in overflowed, and I felt the tears sting my eyes. But now wasn't the time. I swallowed and stared her down. She stared back, her face all pleading and apologetic. I jerked my head again in a stiff shake, but it wasn't out of disagreement this time; it was out of denial. She nodded back sadly. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and finally nodded back. A small smile touched her lips.

Thirty feet.

I knew it was goodbye. I knew she was a goner. She, and all the other dedicated vampires here were going to die. These...good people-and they were good people, I couldn't deny it anymore- were all going to die to for Nessie. And Bella's last wish would be for Nessie to live. I was the only one who could see to that. Bella knew that. She knew that as long as I was alive, no harm would ever come to that beautiful girl that was her daughter.

Twenty feet. They were all but charging us now.

I took a deep breath, and turned to Bella for help. Should I leave now? Or wait? I raised my eyebrows, and shifted my eyes to the forest; a signal.

She shook her head again, a tiny little shake. I figured she was right. If I left now, they would follow me; they would hunt us down and kill us. Kill Nessie. I shuddered and nodded back slightly to her.

Edward finally looked over his shoulder now, and stared at Bella with the same wide eyes that mine had been. He looked at Nessie and me, and back at Bella, and for the fraction of a second I saw it. The burning man was back, it was clear in his eyes and every part of his face. But he got a hold on himself. Wouldn't want to scare Bella, I guessed. He turned back to me and scrutinized me for a long moment.

_I got this, Edward. I'll do everything I can. _I thought as fiercely as I could.

He knew it. He couldn't deny that I was the best thing for Nessie at this point. He nodded a small nod in agreement. I ducked my head, and he turned back to the onslaught, grabbing Bella's hand and holding it tightly in his.

Twenty feet.

I heard Nessie whimper quietly from behind me. She was terrified, I could tell. But then I really _saw _how terrified she was.

Her thoughts screamed horror, the images she flashed back from the scene before us were altered slightly, distorted as they took on her point of view. The Volturi looked a lot more menacing in her mind than they might have to the rest of us. And then her feelings became that of despair when she saw Bella and Edward turn away. Were we leaving them? Are we not going to stay with them? Not Mommy and Daddy...will they be okay? The questions weighed a thousand pounds in her mind and mine, and it hurt me to realize that I had no answer. Not the right one, anyway.

Ten feet.

I was sort of paying more attention to the crowd, but when I looked towards the snowy ground, it was clear that something bigger was coming. A ripple of something, like a mirage, was slowly creeping its way to us. I watched it inch closer and closer nervously. Was this the work of the one who could incapacitate us? I kept my eyes on the ripple, watching as it came closer, closer and then, when it was about to touch Carlisle in the front, it rose, circling over us rather than toward us. Was that supposed to happen? But then I saw Bella smile and I knew then that it was her, her and her shield, protecting us all.

That was when the first one lunged. It was male, big and strong looking. Felix? I couldn't be sure; I didn't know them well enough. He aimed for no one particular as far as I could see, but I knew now that was the time. Battle cries broke out, urgent instructions and calls of help were all around me, and I knew I had to leave. But I couldn't make my feet move. As more and more attacks broke out, Bella looked me straight in the eyes, and her face was so pained that I could feel it in me, feel her hurt inside myself. I shook my head, feeling more tears.

"Go, Jacob," she pled, her voice louder now that there was no secrecy to hide. I shook my head again.

"Now, Jacob! Please!" she was yelling at me, and I knew I had to, I had to, I had to. Quickly, I ducked my head into her shoulder again.

"Love you, Jake," was the last thing I heard before I took off running into the forest. My brothers stared at me in alarm. I ignored their angry, questioning thoughts and didn't look back. The last thing I registered was Bella's scream of defiance and the loud metallic screeching that I remembered from last spring.


	2. Jacob's Escape, Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

So I knew it wasn't the time to grieve. No, I would have forever for that, wouldn't I? I'd have forever to sit there in pain. Of course, I would have Nessie, and right then, that was all the mattered.

I didn't stop running for miles and miles. I knew that I could go on as long as was necessary, but how long would that be? I ran over Bella's last words for anything useful in my head again. They were all I had to get Nessie and I away safely now.

_She has all you need._

_Take Renesmee and go. Get as far from here as possible._

Was that the effort was putting forth for me? But I knew that she hadn't been thinking of me, of course not. She had been thinking of Renesmee. And I how could I blame her? My life seemed pointless right now anyway. All I had left to live for was Renesmee. But Bella had had everything… a husband, a family, a daughter, friends. And what did I have? Maybe I had half of that, but none of it mattered, only Nessie. Just keep her alive. Just keep her alive. Just keep. Her. Alive.

I felt my breathing get heavy, but it was not from the exertion. Running didn't make me tired. No, it was the sobs that were emanating from my chest in heaving drags, making my step uneven. I took one last deep breath and took off, forgetting my own pain for the moment and thought of Nessie.

I knew she was still clinging to the fur on my back, because I could see her thoughts still. Or was horror film the better word? She continuously played back the last scene of her mother. She'd been looking back much more than I had been. And I felt her whimpering and shaking against me at the sights she was seeing over and over. And I felt my own pain sparking to the surface again. I barked at her angrily: Stop! She understood. But I still heard her catch her breath in surprise at my crossness. Her whimpers became more noticeable.

Instant regret; I'd made her pain worse. My instinct yearned to stop right there and comfort her, but in the long run, continuing moving would be better for her. It took all my effort to keep my feet moving. But I still searched for a way to calm her. No time, no time.

I ran headlong now, on a no-stop trip to nowhere, a nowhere that would keep Nessie alive.

Running became a trance, like purgatory. There was still no destination, but I felt I was moving north, it seemed to get colder each step. I didn't know how long I'd been running either. Time meant nothing to me. Only a safe place, some sort of place where we'd both be fine…for a while. I found myself following a similar path that I'd followed last Summer, after I'd ran from Bella. Now I ran _for _her. For her and Renesmee…and Edward. For all the Cullens, all the people who would go down in my history as friends…almost family.

Nessie was asleep on my back, not for the first time. She hadn't really been keeping up a healthy sleep pattern; waking and then drifting off again. But this was the longest I'd felt her body finally give up its ceaseless quivering of sadness. Of course, her dreams weren't that much easier. She played back all her memories of her Momma and Daddy…Auntie Alice and Uncle Jazz…Grandma and Grandpa…Auntie Rose and Uncle Em…Seth, Leah…Those last two always got me. I remembered Leah… a few weeks ago…and our plan to run away together. Her, as a friend, a partner in pain. Right, 'cause I really needed one now, anyway. She might be dead right now…. And Seth. Seth…only just fifteen…could he be dead?

I banished the thoughts, but her dreams continued. In her dreams, it was happy, not like some slideshow at a funeral. She was imagining herself there, on the piano bench with Daddy, or in Momma's arms, and she was happy there…smiling. It had been a while since I'd seen her smile. The last expression I'd seen on her face was horror, as she'd climbed onto my back and out of Bella's arms.

I shook my head to rid myself of the memories again. Just then I ran into a wide snow covered field. We'd been mostly converged in forests along the west coast the entire time. I'd passed several little clearings like this one, but as I took a double take behind me, I decided that we could stop here, and see what Bella had meant about Nessie having everything we needed.

I skidded to a halt in the middle of the opening. It was small, but the snow was deep, and the trees were high. I let my ears search around us, and heard nothing, not even a motorway in the distance. I wondered idly where we were. Not that it mattered _right _now, but we would have to look into hunting game at some point…

Nessie had felt my stop and I heard her stir a little on my back. I craned my body and nudged her gently with my nose. She hopped groggily from my back, and I looked at her face. Her eyes were red, splotchy and wet from tears. Her face was more tired looking than I'd ever seen it, and her cheekbones already looked more prominent from lack of food. She was still beautiful, still my Nessie, but her face scared me. It was an expression I'd never really seen on her before. True pain. True loss. My eyes tightened in response, and leaned my head down to rest it on her neck. She wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and we stayed like that for an immeasurable amount of time. Once or twice I felt her breathing hitch, but she didn't cry yet. She asked me a question instead. Well, thought a question.

What's going to happen now?

I froze in her arms. Because…I still had no good answer. She stiffened too, feeling my worry. I took a step back, and stared her down. I lifted my shoulders and dropped them, a shrug, shaking my head too. She nodded in understanding. Something occurred to her then, and reached behind her to grab a small backpack, one of those little leather things that women used as purses. I felt my face turn into surprise as I saw her place the bag in front of me and look up at me with such expectancy that I felt like I must have missed something.

I nodded my head towards her: open it. She nodded back and dropped to her knees and dumped the contents of my bag onto the snowy ground. We glanced at each other and examined the things that were there.

The biggest things were a change of clothes for me. Only Bella, I thought rolling my eyes a little. But there was also a note, with the words RIO DE JENIERO written across it, four little envelopes addressed to me, Nessie, Charlie, and Renée, the biggest wad of money I'd ever seen and three IDs. I stared at the pile for a long moment. And then I looked at Nessie, a huge lump in my throat. She was biting her lip, and her eyes were tearing again, and she picked up the envelope with her name on it, written in Bella's untidy handwriting.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

**This one and chapter 4 are short, but I promise I'll make up for it in chapter 5 =]**

I looked Nessie in the eyes, and pointed with my eyes to her and then, to the ground: stay here. Of course she understood. She took one last breath and plunked down on the ground, staring at the note. I swallowed noisily to keep down my own pain, and then grabbed the clothes with my mouth, and stepped out into the very fringe of the trees to phase. The clothes reeked of vampire, of course. Whatever. It didn't matter anymore. It felt nice to walk on two legs again, have hands and a voice.

I stepped back into the clearing and saw that the envelope Nessie held was soaked with little drops of water. But it was her tears. She hadn't even opened it and she was already crying.

"Oh, Ness," I mumbled, walking over to her, and scooping her into my arms. "C'mere…"

The next few hours had to be the worst of my life. And I'd had some pretty bad moments.

But _this…_this beat them all.

When Nessie had finally given up on her tears, she'd just sat there in my arms, just sat there and sobbed quietly. But what made it the worst was how useless I was. I'd done all I could to soothe her, I talked to her a little, held her…and even though it probably hadn't helped at all, I'd started crying a couple times, too. Finally, blissfully, her breathing relaxed, and her eyelids fell; she was going to be out for a while.

I kept her lying in the snow- the cold didn't wake her- and went to go check out all that Bella'd done for us.

I read the two fake IDs she'd given us. Each of us had a passport, and I had a driver's license. Only, it wasn't my name on it. I wanted to laugh at the name she'd chosen, but I also felt like crying again. So from now on, the world would know me as Jacob Wolfe. Good one, Bells. Nessie was going to be Vanessa. That worked; Nessie was a good nickname for Vanessa. I thought randomly that they were pretty well made, clearly professional. Both pictures of me were altered a little, so it looked like two different ones. But it was the same picture, and so was Nessie's. It had once been the picture of us, sitting on Bella's front steps in what I guess you could call happier times. I sighed, my breath shaking a little, and placed the documents back in the backpack. Next I examined the slip of paper with the words on it. Rio. So that's where she was sending us. And we'd get there with the money she'd given us. I didn't bother counting it, just by look of it, I could tell that it was more than I probably would have earned in my entire life. All that was left then was…my note. I put Charlie and Renee's back in the bag; that was theirs to read some day. I stared at the envelope for a minute…deciding. Already I felt a little sick. But I was a mess anyway, and so I thought, what the hell?, and opened the slip.

I felt a stab just at the sight of her handwriting, but I read it. It said:

To my best man,

I can't believe I'm saying goodbye again. How many times has been for us now? But I know that you'll do the right thing now, you've always been known how to make people happy. And I know you'll do that for my Renesmee. Or yours. She yours now. And I need you to take care of her, Jake, just like I know you will. Take care of her like you did me.

Maybe, if it's ever safe again you can take her back to Forks…tell Charlie everything, and tell him he meant everything, that he was the best father. Send my love to Renee and Phil…and make sure she stays safe and happy.

And I guess all I can do now is thank you, Jacob. Because I know that I would not be half of what I am without your help. I wouldn't even be alive. You were the greatest friend I've ever known, probably the greatest person, too. Don't' ever stop being the man I know you are. Always be happy, always be Jacob. My Jacob. Be my Jacob for Renesmee.

I love you, Jacob. You know that better than anybody.

Bella.

I placed the note back in the envelope and then I placed the envelope in the backpack. I never looked at it again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

Sorry this one's so short, but I promise chapter 5 will up VERY soon!

I shoved the remaining pieces of paper back into the bag, grabbed the note that Nessie clutched in her sleeping hands, and put that in too. Then I zipped the backpack up, my eyes stinging with fresh tears and trite determination.

"Nessie," I called, a little sharply.

She stirred slightly, and I saw her little eyes open a fraction.

"Wake up, Nessie," I said. I didn't need to touch her or nudge her; she was on her feet in less than a second.

"Where are we going, Jakey?" she asked. She didn't speak often, but hearing her voice was nice. I relaxed my tight shoulders a bit.

"We're going to Rio, Ness," I told her simply.

Her face fell in confusion, and she shook her head.

"Nessie, we have to, okay?"

She wouldn't have it. She shook her head and didn't stop.

"Nessie!" I walked over to her and took her hand. She pulled away.

"Renesmee," I wasn't usually cross, mostly because it hurt me more than her, but she wasn't listening, she wasn't being fair. This was Bella's last wish, to keep Nessie alive, and-though it hurt me- if this was the only way, I would do it.

"You look at me, Nessie," I ordered. She looked up at me desperately. The expression crushed my will power and I fell to my knees before her.

"Nessie," I said in a much kinder voice. "Listen to me. I know…I know it hurts now, I know it does. Look at me!" She'd looked down at her hands. I took both of them in mine, and pulled her face back up to look at me. I almost whispered now. "But…we're going to do what we can to make this work. It's…well, it's not gonna be easy, Ness, but it will get better, I promise. We're gonna be together, and we're gonna stay alive. As long…as long as _you _listen to _me _then things are going to be fine."

Her face became a mix of pain, fear and determination. After a few shallow breaths, she nodded and wrapped her arms around me again. I hugged her closely for a while, and then pulled away, and forced a grin onto my face. I hoped it would calm her.

It seemed to. She smiled crookedly back.

"Ready for another run?" I asked, tapping her little head.

She laughed a tiny, breathless laugh and nodded.

"Ready," she replied.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

**Sorry, this one's long, but I had to make up for that last one!**

So, though I was trying to be optimistic for Nessie as I ran, I was also making a game plan. How much of the border would they be watching? Obviously we'd have to stick to the east coast; those Italian monsters might still be close to BC or still in Washington. But I felt like we should find out where we were _now, _so we could figure out how to get to where we _should _be. I hadn't even phased yet, we just ran along together, but we were never more than three feet apart at the most.

We'd really been out of civilization. It took us hours just to find a road. And even then, all it was some run down old dirt excuse for a highway. So we kept running about, using any sounds or smells we could to find some form of society.

After a few more miles north-east, through snow filled forests and few more old dirt roads, we found a promising scent.

"Smell that, Nessie?" I asked with a smirk.

She wrinkled her nose. "It smells like human food."

I laughed a bit. "That's right. Looks like we found us some humans."

She smiled, and we took off running in direction of the smell.

It was only a little while later that we found the small Café on a snow covered road. There was a bright neon sign on the door that read, "Open". Nessie took my hand and we crossed the road together and walked at a human pace up the steps to the café.

The knob looked like it would fall off the handle if I touched it, it was so rundown looking. The white paint on the door was chipping and a couple of the windows were boarded up. But if the sign said open, then it must still be slightly durable.

I turned the little knob and opened the door cautiously. A bell rang over our heads as we stepped in. Not the automated, electric kind, either. No, a real bell hanging over a door. I grinned…strange, but it felt a little like Embry's mom's store or something. Embry…could he be dead? I shook my head, and pulled Nessie along with me to the front counter.

It was manned by a tired looking old hick, crusty looking, but reliable. He smiled vaguely as we walked up to him. He was the only other person there.

"Hi," I greeted him, as confidently as I could manage.

The old man squinted his eyes as if to get a better view of us, and then smiled down at Nessie, completely ignoring my welcome.

"Well, hello, little girl," he said in a crackly voice.

Nessie flashed him a dazzling smile and waved. He looked a little disgruntled as he turned back to me.

"What can I do for you?" he asked me.

I cleared my throat. "Er, well we're not exactly from around here…and we were just wondering where 'here' is." He nodded like he expected this response.

"You're in Mulltown," he announced proudly. "That's the Yukon. You're about three clicks east of the Mackenzie River, and half a territory from Yellowknife."

"Oh," I muttered. Nessie squeezed my hand and I heard her thoughts again.

We're far from home, aren't we?

I looked down at her and nodded. She nodded once in acceptance and understanding.

"Was there anything else you needed, boy?" he asked. "You look a little hungry…we've got spare rooms upstairs if you wanna stay the night." He raised his eyebrows in hope.

"O-oh…well, I don't know, we're kind of on a tight schedule…"

I looked at Nessie again. She shrugged.

"Do you want to stay, Nessie?" I asked her.

She but her lip, and though she tried to conceal her thoughts, I still saw her longing for warm bed, and even a small hope for some food. I raised my eyebrows at her, and she smiled impishly.

"Alright, we'll stay," I said.

"Great!" he sounded like he meant it. "Did you want something to eat? Maybe some coffee…"

"Nessie?"

I saw in her mind the time her father had let her try his homemade pancakes, and she remembered almost likely those.

"Can I have some?" she asked.

"Of course you can, Ness," I told her, smiling. "You got pancakes?" I asked the man.

"If that's what you want," he said happily, running back to his shabby looking kitchen to start what was probably his first order in years.

"I'm Frank, by the way!" he called from the kitchen.

"Jacob," I told him.

"Great, great," he muttered dismissively. I rolled my eyes and pulled Nessie over to one of the old tables played out messily around the tiny establishment. She sat in the seat across from mine, and rested her head down on the red-topped table. She sighed deeply.

I frowned and touched her head.

"What's up, Ness?" I asked guardedly. God, what a stupid question.

She agreed with that. She looked up at me and gave me a heavily disapproving look.

"Okay, okay," I said, holding my hands up in defeat. "I guess there's a lot up. But you remember what I said before, don't you?"

She nodded solemnly.

"Just do what I say, and you'll be fine, okay?" Again, she nodded.

"So…er," she began, but her voice caught and she looked down again.

"Nessie?"

"No…it's silly," she muttered. I saw her cheeks turn red with blush, and I had to swallow back the pain as the sight reminded me so much of Bella.

"You can tell me, Nessie," I said, tilting her face back up to me with my hand.

She seemed to deliberate for a minute, swallowed a couple of times and then said in a rush, "We're not going to see Momma or Daddy again."

The way she said it took me off guard, a statement not a question. She'd already figured it all out. She knew all too well what was going on.

I winced a little and shook my head. A tiny "v" popped out in between her eyebrows, and she looked _so _much like Bella.

"We are going to?" she asked. Her voice held just a little bit of hope. And the hope was what brought on the lie.

"Maybe one day. Maybe…we'll find them someday, and we'll all be a family again."

I saw her eyes brighten, and I hated it. Because it was a lie. She had been right; we _were _never going to see them again, because they were most likely dead. And she thought they weren't.

"Really?" There was much more hope in her voice now.

"Sure, if you…keep hoping and wishing…maybe, we'll find them someday."

She made a weird expression then, somewhere between hope and disbelief.

"But, there's still-," Ding!

The old man rang a bell at the counter and interrupted my last chance to save Nessie from hoping _too _much.

"Order up!" he called.

I got up from the table, pushing my chair in roughly. The man named Frank had put the plate of pancakes on the counter, and he stood maternally behind it.

"Two homemade pancakes," he announced proudly. "You want syrup, kid?"  
"Sure, sure," I muttered distantly. He placed two little packets of the stuff on the plate next to the two sallow looking excuses for pancakes.

"Thanks," I said anyway.

I trudged back to where Nessie sat and placed the food in front of her.

She looked at with her nose wrinkled again. "These aren't the same," she told me.

"No, they're different than the other ones."

She took one deep breath and dug in despite herself. To my surprise, she forced down both pancakes, all the while her face looking like she wanted to throw up. When she was finished, I took the plate from her and pulled the money out of the backpack that she still wore.

I gave the old man his plate back and placed a hundred dollar bill on the counter. He stared at the money, flabbergasted.

"Keep the change," I said, like I just didn't care about one hundred dollars. Which I guess I didn't, seeing as we had about a thousand times more than that. Probably more. Only Bella.

"Sure, kid," he said taking the money willingly enough, but he still looked surprised. "Here, uh, want me to show you your rooms?" he asked.

"Yeah, we'll just need one, thanks."

He nodded and looked over my shoulder to smile at Nessie.

"Come on, sweet-pea, we're gonna get you a little bed to sleep in, alright?"

She smiled at him again, and hopped gracefully down from her chair, ran to my side and grabbed my hand again.

We followed Frank up a dangerous looking set of stairs to a small upstairs hallway. From the outside, I hadn't even noticed that there were two stories. He led us to the room at the very end of the hall. It was small, but that was okay, I was no stranger to a small bedroom; this felt more like home for me. Thought maybe not for Nessie; she'd probably want to sleep with me tonight.

All there was inside was a bed and small bedside table with a lamp on it. I didn't know if the lamp would work, but there was enough moonlight shining through the little window at the far end of the room to supply a good amount of light in the room.

Nessie looked around the room, looking a little uncomfortable. I squeezed her hand.

"Thanks," I said to Frank.

"Sure thing, kid," he muttered, and then he turned and walked slowly back down the hallway.

Once he was gone I sighed and pulled Nessie into my arms. She looked tired already.

"Are you gonna sleep, Ness?" I asked her.

She shook her head and placed her hand on my face. She played back the scene of the room in her mind and Frank, too.

Too scared.

"Alright, we'll stay up for a while, then."

Just then I saw a bright greenish light shining through the window. I walked over to the light and pulled back the thin white curtain to see a sight I'd never seen. It was like sheets of light being spread across the sky, waving and twisting in strange patterns. The colors changed from green to pink to yellow, and sometimes blue. I stared at the lights in awe for a minute and then looked down a Nessie, to see that her eyes were wet, fresh tears falling down her face.

"Ness?" I asked, worried.

She looked a little shaken to talk so she placed her hand on my face and showed me what _she _was seeing when she looked at the lights.

She saw her with her mother again; saw the smiles that they would be sharing. She showed me her and Daddy, playing around the piano. She showed me Uncle Em and Auntie Rose laughing with her and playing with her. She showed me her and Seth, racing through the woods.

I'm wishing.

"I know, Nessie.," I said, my voice thick. "You keep wishing." I nodded at her, and we stared off at the lights until she drifted to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

I must have dozed off, too, because when I woke up, Nessie was still in my arms, only we were both on the little bed. But I didn't wake naturally; I woke up because I'd heard a sound. It wasn't that loud, but I wasn't totally out of it, so it was enough to make me stir. I sifted through the possibilities of the sound in my head. The only object that fit the sound was-

"What the hell, man!" I jumped from the bed and found myself facing Frank. Only I wasn't facing Frank, I was facing down the barrel of a gun that he had pointed at my face. I'd been woken by his cocking of the thing.

I heard Nessie gasp behind me, and I turned to make sure she was okay. She'd moved to the far corner of the bed, and stared back and forth between me and the weapon.

I put my hands up in surrender. Frank's face was distorted in what could only be rage.

"You tell me what in the world you're doing here!" he spat.

"_What?" _I demanded.

"You know what! You tell me what you have planned for that little girl! I won't have no psychopath kidnapper running on through my town!" He was yelling at me.

I wanted to laugh at his stupidity, but I sort of realized what this must look like from the outside.

"Are you insane? Seriously, are you mentally _unstable?"_ I shouted back at him.

He held the gun a little higher in response. "Tell me!" he insisted, still shouting.

I sifted through something that could work. I settled on the simple. "I'm her dad."

He narrowed his eyes. "Ya sure don't look like her dad."

I rolled my eyes. All part of my plan. "Well, stepfather, if you want to get precise."

"Prove it!" he snapped.

"Nessie?" I called. She caught her breath and got up off the bed to stand beside me. She took my hand.

"Is he your step-dad, little girl?" Frank asked her.

She nodded.

"Then why's he keep talking about taking you away from your mom and dad, huh? Why?" He'd started shouting again. I pulled Nessie behind me a little in response.

He pulled the gun back to my face, and stared me down accusingly.

"You're not gonna hurt her, you hear me? You stay away, and get out of this town!"

"If you say so." And with that, I pushed the gun out of my face, and punch him in the face, with so much force that I heard the bones in his face crack beneath my fist. He fell to the floor at my feet, and I kicked his body out of the way, pulling Nessie behind me as we fled from the tiny room.

"C'mon, Ness, we're back on the road again," I called back to her. I thought I heard her groan a little as she jumped lithely onto my back.

Quickly, but carefully I bolted down the stairs. I remembered them being rickety and precarious. I was halfway down, when I felt a shudder under my feet. In the panic of the moment, I only had time to register my foot falling through the old wood, and then the rest of my body. I heard Nessie scream behind me as we sank into the floor.

I felt splinters carve themselves into the skin in my arms, and throbbing pains broke out everywhere. I'd be healed by the time we were out of here, but I wasn't sure about Nessie. My feet made contact with nothing and now half of me was trapped in the wood of the steps, and the rest of me dangled below.

"Nessie?" I called back to her.

Her hands were still around my neck, and she was holding on tightly, but she didn't answer me. It worried me; I knew that without a doubt, we were going to need to get out of here, so I could make sure she was okay. I used all the strength I could muster out of my arms and pulled us both out of the stairs.

Flinging my legs out of the hole in the wood, I looked back to the hallway where we'd come from. I thought I heard groaning from the bedroom, which meant our friend Frank must be stirring already. He was tough for the old man he appeared to be. I looked over my shoulder to see Nessie. She was hiding her face in my back, her curly hair covering all of her face. She was still breathing, and I didn't see any terrible damage at the moment, so I jumped back to my feet and continued on down the stairs. After about one more step, I decided that I didn't need another slip, so I hurled myself the rest of the way down the stairs, landing easily on my feet at the bottom.

Just as I was about to make a run for the door, I heard an angry, no _furious,_ shout from behind me.

Frank was back, it seemed, and gun and all, he was making his way down the stairs after us. His face was a bloody mess, and his eyes were squinted against the broken bones in his face.

"You get back here, you monster!" he shouted from the top of the staircase.

I didn't respond, I just kept running for the door, that blissful door to safety for Nessie. I heard a bang, as loud as an explosion go off as he fired his gun. I saw the wall not four feet from me receive a vicious dent from the impact. Nessie screamed again at the sound. But I didn't stop running, even when I heard a second explosion, a second scream, but again Frank missed me. Running faster than I'd ever done before in my human form, I went headlong for the door, finally grabbing that ugly handle and pulling the door open.

I still didn't stop running. I heard the bell ring over my head, and then I was off. Not once did I look back, though Frank went for the shot again. Only I felt a stab in my left arm that time. And it _hurt._ But, no, I didn't look back, and didn't stop running.

After several miles, we reached a new clearing, deep within a snow covered forest. For the first time in a long time, I was breathless, tired from the run. And my arm still hurt.

But I didn't pay any attention to my own pain. The minute we were stopped, I pulled Nessie off my back, and into my arms to make sure she was okay. It frightened me when her eyes didn't open.

"Nessie!" I said loudly.

Slowly, her eyelids fluttered and she looked up at me in alarm.

"Are you okay, baby?" After all, that was all that mattered right now.

She was panting, too, her eyes were unfocused and she looked so disgruntled that I worried she might have hit her head or something. What could I possibly do if she was hurt? I knew no first aid. All I knew was CPR and it didn't look like that was the kind of stuff I'd have to deal with if Nessie was really hurt.

"Nessie? Are you hurt, honey?"

She blinked and gave me an expression that looked like I'd asked her the most complicated math question known to man. Then she nodded one tiny nod. I nearly had a heart attack. Suddenly, I was so alarmed that I couldn't even keep my voice down. But I tried to stay calm. If there was one thing I knew of first aid, it was that to keep your patient calm, it's best that_ you _stay calm.

"Okay…alright, show me where it hurts, Nessie. Show me where, baby." I was speaking quickly, still too panicked to relax.

She placed her hand on my face, and let me see where she was hurt. She played back the scene of the getaway from her perspective, and I saw what had gone wrong. While we were falling into the stairs, she _had _hit her head, against the corner of the last step.

I swallowed to calm myself. I tried to think rationally. Okay, she's part vampire, what's the worst that could happen? They've got their super-strong skin, and from what I could remember, Nessie'd inherited that from her father.

"Okay, so it's your head, right, sweetie?" I asked to make sure.

She nodded minutely again.

"How bad, hun?" She just looked at me confusedly again.

"Can you see okay, Nessie? Can you see me alright?" That was a sign of a concussion, right? Blurred vision? I thought so…

She nodded.

"Can you speak to me, Nessie?"

She nodded.

"Okay, then say something to me, Nessie," I urged her. I was getting more nervous by the second.

Suddenly her eyes widened, and she focused on my left shoulder.

"Jacob!" she exclaimed, and pointed to the bullet-sized hole in my arm, that was still gushing blood.

"Ah, forget it, Nessie; I'll be fine, okay?" I didn't matter right now, didn't she understand? "But you have to tell me if you're okay, Nessie. Cant you tell me that?"

"I am," she promised. "But you aren't, Jacob. You're bleeding, Jakey."

I grinned, just so happy to know that she was fine.

"Don't worry about me, Nessie. I'm absolutely fine."

"Promise?" she asked, a little uncertainly.

"Promise," I vowed.

The sun had just begun to rise over the trees, and pinkish rays of morning sun were just shining through the trees, reflecting off the white snow. It was a mellow kind of color, and Nessie soon drifted back to sleep in my arms. I sat down against one the tall trees, with Nessie in my lap, and let my head fall back onto the snowy wood. I felt the snow melt underneath me, as my body temperature dug right into the freezing cold. I sighed. What had I gotten myself into? Nessie and I would probably be like this for years. Constantly on the run, always in hiding. Which got me back to thinking, how many of those years would Nessie have to live? She still grew older every day, if I didn't know she was only four months old, I would guess at about three or four years almost now. And if her growing kept up at that rate…

I forgot about it for now, we'd cross that bridge when we got there. Nessie still had the tiny back pack on her shoulders, so I sifted through it, carefully avoiding my letter from Bella, keeping it far to the bottom of the bag. Instead, I grabbed the two forged passports and the driver's license. Jacob Wolfe. Clearly, Bella'd been thinking quickly. I thought about her doing this, going off to some criminal forger, probably the best in the business for the dear old Cullens. I wondered if she had been scared or nervous. If she was human she probably would have been. But I had a feeling that this forger would be the frightened one, wouldn't want to offend or insult such a beautiful woman. I bet he was the one constantly on his toes, weighing each word with care. I wondered how Bella had felt about that.

I read the passports carefully. Jacob Brian Wolfe, according to the date there I was twenty seven. That worked. I was legal in that case, and could act as a proper guardian for Nessie. Where had Bella gotten Brian? Maybe she'd just asked for something normal, she was never that creative. I moved on to Nessie's passport. Vanessa Mary Wolfe. She would be five, according to the birth date. She could pull it off, I guessed, she wasn't getting any younger. Literally.

I sighed in frustration, and put the IDs back in the back pack. Then I pulled out the piece of paper with the words on it. RIO DE JENEIRO. We were going to Rio. How the hell were we supposed to get to Rio? Once we got out of this snowy wasteland, I guessed we could hop a plane somewhere from Canada. Frank had said we were half a territory from Yellowknife. I knew enough Canadian geography to know that that was the capital of Yukon. So half a territory away from it…must mean we were pretty far. If we could at least get to the closest main city, maybe then we could find an airport, and get to where we were supposed to be. Money obviously wasn't an issue, and we had passports. So, as soon Nessie woke up, we would be on the road to Yellowknife.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

I'd just been staring at the slip of paper for a while when I felt Nessie stir in my lap. I looked down at her and she sighed deeply and opened her eyes.

"Morning, you," I said, smiling and patting her head.

She smiled a tiny smile, and looked at the paper in my hand.

"How are you feeling, Ness?" I asked; before we went anywhere, I needed to make sure she was going to be okay for a week long journey.

She nodded vaguely, but looked at my arm worriedly again. I followed her gaze and stared at what had been a gash last night. It was now healed over, the skin overlapping the bullet, and it stuck out in a strange bump in my arm. It hurt a little, but it was easy to overlook. Nessie looked a bit more concerned than I felt.

"Aw, don't worry about it, Nessie. It doesn't even hurt," I lied.

She nodded, still looking a bit worried, and she ran her hand over the little bump in my upper-arm. She sighed and pulled her hand away, averting her attention again to the paper in my hands. She tried to decipher the meaning of the words for a minute and then seemed to give up.

"What's that?" she asked. "What do the words mean?"

"It says Rio, Nessie. That's where we're going now."

She nodded like she understood. "Are we going _right _now?" she asked.

I put the paper back in the back pack and nodded solemnly.

"The sooner the better, Ness." Again, she nodded.

She placed her hand on my face and showed us running, just like we had been for weeks now.

I laughed. "No, we won't be running the whole way," I assured her.

Her little eyebrows furrowed, and the 'v' popped again between them.

"We're going to be taking an airplane. It's going to fly us there."

She took her hand off my face and looked at my disbelievingly.

"We're going to _fly_?" she asked.

"Sort of. You'll understand when you see it," I told her.

She shrugged and nodded again, pulling the backpack onto her shoulders a little more securely. Her face became so determined and mature all of a sudden, I wanted to laugh. But I didn't want to upset her attitude. She pulled herself out of my lap and stood before me expectantly.

"Well, are we going or not?" she asked.

I smiled and nodded.

I didn't phase at all on the run. I was just trying to keep a good idea of which direction we were going, focusing on south. I was pretty sure I'd be able to recognize a major city when I saw one. The forest became more and more diminished as we ran, and the roads we passed were not quite so uninhabited. Eventually, we lost sight of any forest at all, and all around us was wide open snowy plains. We passed a few small towns, filled with very few people, but we steered clear of those; we only had one destination, and we didn't need another Frank situation. For all we knew, he might have reported us to the other nearby towns, and the last thing we needed was another disruption on our path. I didn't want to have to kill anybody, that wouldn't help our cause right now.

The sun was just beginning to set when I saw the lights of a city appear in the distance. I didn't bother over the fact that we'd made a five day trip in a day; we'd been running fast, even for us. Nessie hadn't even been on my back, she'd insisted on running alongside me. I'd accepted, but she knew never to run more than two or three from me at the most.

We stopped at the top of a high snow bank that had a nice, broad view of the city. It was the biggest one we'd seen, with cars and buildings and lots of lights. This had to Yellowknife. Nessie took my hand and we ran the rest of the distance till we found a road leading into the city from the north. A few cars drove along the road, so Nessie and I stayed a good ten or fifteen feet from the actual road. Snow banks lined the roads form snow plows, and they were so high that we were invisible to the drivers that passed us by.

After a few short miles, we passed a sign with the name of the city and the population. It wasn't even one of the international ones, it looked a little like the homemade kind. It said, "Welcome to Yellowknife", and it was large and colorful. Definitely not government owned, sort of like the sign into Forks. I sighed as we passed it. At least we were one step closer.

I'd decided while Nessie slept that we would take a plane from here to Toronto, where I was sure there would be a decent plane to Rio, and if not, then we might at least find some sort of transfer in New York or somewhere along the east coast. I didn't want to go anywhere near the west, just in case. I just wanted to be out of this country at the very least. I knew my way around the states better than I did Canada.

As we walked further into the city, I noticed that I kind of had no shoes on. I'd have to pick some up at the airport or something. But…maybe we could find something along the way instead. I felt sort of safe in this well populated city, any danger would be far from here, and even if there was anything to fear, it most likely wouldn't get us here.

We were just on the outskirts of the city now, but I wanted to be a little closer to down town before we stopped anywhere. As the roads became more bustling, and the stores became brighter, I knew we were getting close. We'd passed what I guess you call the suburbs, all the houses were behind us now, and we were approaching what could only be the highway here. It was really just the busiest street we'd been on yet. There was a sign leading into the brightest part of town, and we followed it. It was a bit uncomfortable, walking along the Main Street, with a little girl at my side, but this city looked so easy-going, that even on the busiest street in town, people still walked.

"Where are we going, Jakey?" Nessie asked me as we began walking along the sidewalks, and I peered into the stores that we passed.

"We're gonna find a few things to buy. A new back pack maybe, and a few supplies. How 'bout a new outfit, eh, Ness?"

She smiled and now she too peaked into all the windows we passed. The city appeared to be cleaning up after Christmas. The windows were still lined with lights and decorations, the doors hung with wreaths. But it looked like the most common signs were the ones claiming the best sales in town. All the leftovers from Christmas and Boxing Day alike were on sale. Not that mattered for us, they could be full price and we'd still be able to afford half the inventory, with money left to spare. We found a promising store, one of the biggest in town, a Wal Mart. That would be convenient; we could find everything we needed there, most likely.

Before we stepped in, I did a quick run through of my outer appearance. My left arm was a macabre sight, and the little bump from the bullet stuck out noticeably on my arm. My clothes had stayed relatively clean, since we'd mostly been in snow, and not really any dirt. But the scene in café had torn them, and there was several rips in my jeans and shirt.

Nessie had a similar look. The little outfit she wore was torn up around her ankles, and her pants were stained with the grime off the old wood from the café. And I still had no shoes. We probably looked like a couple of bums walking in there. I figured it was the best we could do, to at least straighten our clothes out, and brush through my hair and Nessie's with our fingers, so we looked a little neater.

We finally walked into the store. No one stared our way, thank god, and the first place I led Nessie was the public bathroom. I cleaned her face of any blood or scrapes in the family bathroom, and then cleaned off my arm. Without all the blood or grime, we looked a little more presentable. Either way, we'd have new clothes and supplies soon enough.

We spent a good two or three hours in that store. We bought medicines and antibiotics for any injuries, particularly my arm. I'd promised Nessie that I'd be fine, and that it didn't hurt, but she insisted I at least get band aids. I bought vitamins, because I didn't know how much food or nutrients Nessie had gotten from those pancakes; they'd been the last thing she'd eaten, and I didn't want her to have to suffer through too much more human food. I decided we could hunt a little before we went anywhere.

We bought a new back pack, big and sturdy, and also a suitcase, because we would need some where to put the new clothes I'd bought for both me and Nessie. I got her some warm clothes for while we were here, and then found the very limited summer section and bought her a few outfits for Rio. It was tricky shopping for her; I didn't know which sizes would work. I bought most things too big, so that she'd get some use out of them before she entirely out grew everything. Each of us got new jackets, so that we could wait out the remaining cold weather, and I did end up getting a good pair of shoes, and a pair of boots. I got Nessie some new shoes, too, a little more durable than the ones she'd been wearing. While we were there, I also picked up snacks, I knew Nessie wouldn't eat many of them, but we had so much money, I figured we could spare a bit so that I wouldn't go hungry.

We bought a few more supplies too. A flashlight, a compass, some blankets, a few bathroom supplies, too like soap and shampoo. I didn't know when we'd use them, but I liked having them, just in case. I got a few little things for Nessie, like coloring books and some stories. I knew she didn't like picture books, so I made sure to ask her which ones she wanted. She picked a few books that were bigger and thicker than anything I'd ever read, with the names of authors I'd never heard of.

Finally we checked out. The amount of money we spent was more than I'd ever paid for anything in my life. On our way out, we stopped back in the bathroom to change, and fix ourselves up for travel.

We set out in our new clothes-I'd made sure not to get anything _too_ fancy, strictly causal wear-, with the new bag on my back, all our supplies inside, and all of Bella's help, too and we set back off for the wilderness, because I knew Nessie would want something she would actually enjoy eating before we set off for days of travel. We didn't have to venture too far from the city-but still out of sight from any civilization- before we found a large white bear. I'd never seen a polar bear before, but Nessie took it head-on, laughing as she overtook me and attacked the beast. It never stopped amazing me to watch her hunt…nor did it stop frightening me. But she never faltered, and once she was done sucking the most she could from the bear, she loped back over to me, taking my hand and smiling as she wiped any blood off her face.

"You look fine, Ness. Ready to go?" I asked. She nodded and we ran back to the city to start our newest trip.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

We had to wait a while at the airport, because, of course, we missed the four o' clock flight. The ticket-seller had told us that we'd need a connection in Edmonton, and then a plane from there would take us to Toronto. The next one left at six, so we bought our tickets-two for first class- and spent our spare time checking out stores and anything interesting around the airport.

We were just stopping in at a small convenience store when I got the shock of a lifetime.

I'd only gone in to pick up a magazine or newspaper, something useful from the world we'd been so isolated from for just over a week now. Quickly, I browsed past the meaningless teen magazines and celebrity garbage. I didn't know what I was trying to find out, really. The only kind of news I was interested wouldn't be in any newspaper. And what would they say? 'Bodies found burned and found in the forests of Seattle'? No, I had a feeling that if those Volturi had killed any of our vampires, or ours theirs, then they would have done it well, thoroughly.

So the doubt made it more shocking when I saw it. When I picked up the weekly newspaper, the front cover was predictable and not totally important, just a picture and an article about the Earth Friendly ball of lights for New Year's Eve in Times' square this year. But it had been the small picture and heading in the corner that had really caught my eye. It said, 'Mysterious Forest Fires in…Washington State? Turn to Page 4A for More.'

I gaped openly at the newspaper for a moment. I felt the blank shock on my face, and Nessie seemed to notice, too. She tugged on my shirt curiously. I struggled to control myself.

"Er, forget it, Ness," I told her. "Come with my, I'm going to buy this newspaper, kay?"

She followed me to the counter and we paid the convener his money-too much money, I didn't bother with change-and headed off back near our platform to wait for our plane.

When we were seated, I opened the newspaper until I found page 4A, and inspected the picture they had displayed. It was definitely Washington, the sky was gray and cloudy, and the trees were high up from the ground. The picture was a landscape shot of the tops of the trees, and the hazy purplish cloud of smoke emanating from their depths. I knew it was no coincidence that there would be smoke above those snow covered trees; vampires had died this week, I knew it. I read the article in a state of permanent shock.

"It was a strange and uncommon sight in Washington State earlier this week, when a mysterious cloud of smoke erupted from the wet forest floors. Not only was it such a strange sight simply because of the constant rain in this area, but also the fact that it was deep winter in Seattle, and the smoke should not have been. When chief of police for the area, Charlie Swan, went to investigate the blaze, he did not return, leaving many friends and members of the tiny town of Forks in a state serious worry and fear. Speculation was increasing. By the time too many cameras could reach the area, (approximately twenty miles from the west coast, south of British Columbia) the smoke had all but disappeared. New inspectors soon ventured to further investigate the strange disappearance and the still confusing smoke. This group returned just fine, but with no new explanations, and with no known cause of the smoke. The surrounding forest was perfectly un-charred, and any nearby trees had so signs of being a blaze.

The entire series of odd events leaves the people of Forks and much of the Olympic Peninsula in a serious state of shock and confusion, well, so are the rest of us."

The shock and disbelieve must still have been plain on my face because Nessie was staring up at my worriedly. I felt my hands start to shake, with anger or shock I couldn't tell. There were only options I could make up for what I'd just read, either way, both involved death in Forks.

One, the Volturi had killed everyone, and I guessed that because of either their excitement or pride in finally destroying the Cullens, they'd let secrecy slide for once. It seemed unlikely that they would be so sloppy, but there wasn't much else I could think of. And of course, it wasn't enough for them to take the lives all those vampires; they also thought they should kill Charlie. I could think of no other explanation for his disappearance on top of everything else.

Unlikely, but possible.

Two, the fight had gone the other way, and the burning bodies in the forest belonged to the Italian vampires, not Bella and Edward or any of the others. I didn't think that they could have done that without losing one or two of our own, but I couldn't get into the specifics; if our side had won, not everyone would have gotten out alive. As for Charlie's disappearance in that scenario…maybe Bella was alive, and had tried to protect him by taking out of harm's way from the Volturi.

Again, I doubted my own judgment, but it was still possible.

Urgh, but it wasn't making sense! I just wanted to know who was alive, and who wasn't. I just wanted to know if our side had won or not. Or…maybe I didn't want to. Still, I figured that even if it was bad news, at least I wouldn't be stuck unknowing and hopeful for all of eternity. No, that wouldn't be any better for me.

My eyes stung with anger and confusion, and I felt my face was twisted, pained as I tried to figure everything out. Again, Nessie didn't let it pass.

"Jacob?" she murmured, still worried.

I took a deep breath in through my nose and exhaled heavily, turning away from the paper to look at Nessie. I tried to force a smile onto my face and keep it there.

"Don't worry, Nessie, I'm fine," I lied. "I'm just nervous about flying. Did you see the airplanes yet?" I asked, trying to distract her.

She looked like she saw through the lie for a minute, but overlooked it after a scrutiny of my face. I guess my smile was more convincing than I'd thought.

She shook her head, and took my hand. I saw her thoughts, and she was curious about the machines, about how we were going to fly.

As we walked to the large windows to look out at the snow covered runways, I threw the newspaper in the recycling angrily.

We spent another hour in front of the window, while Nessie studied the airplanes very seriously, asking questions here and there about they worked. She seemed amazed, and distracted, so I was happy for now.

When our plane reached its platform, about half an hour before take-off, I didn't waste time, and got Nessie on right away. Through everything, I was able to be a little excited by the fact that I was riding first class. And they _meant _first class, Christ. Of course, anything we needed was free, the entire staff at our command. We never over-used our privileges, though, because Nessie was mostly fixed on the outside of the window the whole time, fascinated by the mechanics of the airplane. When it became dark outside, and the stewardess recommended Nessie closed the window, the look Nessie gave her was priceless. Narrowed eyes, pinched little lips, and a glare that was more like the kind of look kitten might give a master when they forgot supper. To me, it was adorable, I even laughed. But the stewardess, not so much. When she'd turned and returned to her back room, I thought I saw her shiver with real fear. I snorted under my breath. Nessie smiled triumphantly and turned back to the window.

After a while, though, she seemed to get tired, so she sighed and turned reluctantly from the window to come sit in my lap. She still wouldn't let me close the window, though. She fell asleep to the sight of stars and dark clouds in the sky.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

**Okay, this is one will be LONG, but I could find no good place to end it and start a new chapter, so bare with me. As well, you may find this chapter off topic, but trust me, it's not. It's very essential; please don't give up on me because it's not exactly as…poignant as the rest of this story so far. I promise you that there is a healthy amount of drama, and a very good amount of action. And of course, HUMOR! (Well, in a very congealed form haha) =]**

We reached our Edmonton connection at about nine, so Nessie wasn't asleep for long. We got right on our flight, however, hardly any delay between them. Next we'd be in Toronto and then we could finally get to Rio.

Nessie paid just as much attention to the airplane's flight this time as well, but she couldn't keep her eyes open long. Not long after take-off, she was back in my lap, falling quickly to sleep again. I continuously asked the stewardess for pop and caffeine so that I could stay awake. While I was still riding high-style, I ordered some food instead of touching on any of the snacks I had packed. The stewardess was reluctant to cook me anything, apparently no meals were supposed to be served after eight. It didn't take much of our still-large amount of money to convince her to change her rules for me. I realized when I got the food in my hands how long it had been since I'd actually eaten. Even the second-rate airplane food tasted good at this point.

After two full plates of food, and fifty dollars less, we were landing in Toronto at one o' clock. I didn't wake Nessie while we exited; I just carried her in my arms while we retrieved our suitcase from the piles of luggage. Back in the terminal, I sat in one of the many chairs and put held Nessie in my lap. We weren't the only ones crashing in the airport that night, so I figured there was no crime in spending the night. I left Nessie in a chair while I went and bought our next tickets for Rio. We were lucky enough to snag a pair of non-stop for Rio. We were riding in steerage this time, though; there was no room left in first class. I figured we'd spoiled ourselves enough anyway; we needed money for Rio.

I didn't sleep that night; I just sat in the waiting chairs in our terminal, waiting out the time left until our 9:00am flight. I stared at the tickets, realizing with a sudden rush of hope that we were almost where we should be, we were going to be where Bella had sent us, somewhere safe, somewhere hopeful. And then I realized something else. I realized _why _Bella has sent us to Rio in the first place. Of course! It should have been obvious, what other reason would she have for sending us there?

Alice and Jasper were still there, just like Bella had known. We'd find them, and search the south for any information about Nessie's origins. And then we'd be safe for a while. I smiled at the tickets…our tickets to safety. This nightmare would soon be over, and we'd be with Alice and Jasper, and they could help us for anything coming or going. I'd never been so happy to see vampires in my life. I wondered if Alice knew anything, if when we found her, she'd be able to see anything good or bad in our coming future. I knew she couldn't see us. But she could see Jasper, and we'd be with them soon, so things might be looking up by then. But did she know the rest of her family's fate? She must have seen how that fight would end.

Suddenly my hope died as I realized…Alice couldn't see Nessie and me. I groaned and tossed the tickets into the seat beside me. She wouldn't see us coming at all…she'd see nothing we had planned. We'd probably be on some wild goose chase through Brazil, on the hunt for two vampires. Well maybe, if were any kind of lucky, she'd at least seen Bella's plan to send us here. I sighed and picked up the tickets again and put them in my pocket.

Our plane arrived in the platform, and I had planned to get on right away just like the time before. I woke Nessie at around 8:30, just a few minutes before the arrival of our flight. We were just boarding the plane when I heard a disturbance from down the hallway. It sounded like several footsteps heading this way. They were getting louder and faster, too, and soon the source of sound was visible.

Just over ten police officers were making their way down the hall to us. I watched with curiosity, wondering what the reason was. But as I was watching I realized that they were not only coming in our direction, they were clearly after us. Nessie was staring at the coming crowd with the same kind of interest as me, still oblivious.

I just had enough time to gently urge Nessie forward, trying to get her onto the plane so she wouldn't be witness to the scene I knew was coming. She resisted against me, and stared at me worriedly.

"That's him! That's the one!" I heard the policemen yelling.

"Stand behind me, Nessie," I ordered her. She obeyed but I felt her peaking around my leg, still unsure of what was happening.

About twenty feet from us, a few of the officers stopped and drew guns. The few left herded us, running forward without stopping. I groaned internally. God really must not want me to get to Rio.

I didn't fight the officers that ran toward us and shoved me out of the way. But then one of them tried lifting Nessie and taking her away. Uh oh, she was probably going to fight back and that would be very, very bad. I was sure that if she wanted to, Nessie could seriously hurt, if not kill, any of these men who were trying to separate us. To spare her having to fight for herself, I jumped up from the ground, where officers were converging on me. I pushed then out of my way.

"Don't touch her!" I yelled as the man tried tugging on Nessie's arm to pull her away.

"You stay back, and don't say another word!" one of the by-standing officers responded, pulling his gun from his pocket and pointing it at my face. I put my hands in the air, like I was supposed to.

"Look, you've got it wrong," I said calmly.

He cocked the gun. "What did I say? Don't you say a word!"

Nessie screamed at the sound of the gun. But I listened to the officer; I figured that if I followed their rules, maybe we'd get out of here safely.

A female officer took the place of the man holding Nessie, and started to gently pull her away. I fought with everything inside me not to destroy them all and demand that they give her back. She stumbled along behind the woman and stared back at me desperately. I held a finger to my lips, then pointed it subtly at her and shifted my eyes to the right: get away. She nodded determinately, understanding as always. I smiled and nodded back.

"Get on the ground!" an officer ordered.

"On your stomach!" another said.

I shrugged and obeyed, dropping to the ground where I lay face first on the tiles. I was waiting for them just to pick me up off the floor and take me away, but was shocked when I felt a kick hit my side. I gasped in surprise, not so much pain. From a much further distance, I heard Nessie scream again. I prayed that it would be the only blow I received, for Nessie's sake, and thankfully it was. I felt strong hands grab my upper-arms roughly, and felt pain in my left arm as one of the hands grabbed the spot where the bullet was implanted into my skin. I made a small sound of discomfort in the back of my throat.

The officers who had me by the arms slammed me hard into wall, straining my hands behind my back to cuff them.

"Did you think you could get away with it for much longer?" asked the man who was putting the handcuffs on me roughly. I wanted to groan in exasperation, it was going to take some explaining to get these guys off my back. Running wasn't an option at this point, we didn't need the vampire police _and _the Canadian…what were they called? Mounties? Yeah, we didn't need any freakin' Mounties on our tail.

"You'll be going a way for a _long _time for this one, kid," he promised me.

They told me the usual garbage. Right to remain silent, court of law, blah, blah, blah. I didn't say a word the whole time, just trying to keep a good short term record with these guys, maybe it would be able to help me a little later on. They dragged me out of the airport, into their cruiser and then we were off. I was shoved in the back seat with nothing but my thoughts for what in the hell we were going to do to get ourselves out of this. And I wanted to cry because now I'd lost Nessie, too.

They took me straight to the station downtown, the kind with the one room cell, and the place where all the questioning would go down. As far as they knew, I was guilty of abduction, and- since I was sure that they'd gotten their information from Frank- most likely they were charging me for assaulting him, and destroying his property. But if they thought I was going to stand going anywhere where Nessie wasn't, they were sorely wrong.

They tried telling me to get out of the car, and when I'd refused, they'd resorted to force. They started trying to pry me roughly from the seat.

"Get _off_ me!" I yelled in their faces, shoving their pushing hands away with enough force that I hoped they would feel the pain through their bullet proof vests. "Where's Nessie?" I demanded of them every time they told me to get out of the car. Finally, they seemed to lose patience with me, and one of the officers clubbed me hard over the head, and I was gone.

When my eyes opened again, I was in a cell. No, no, no. This isn't real. This cannot be real. I jumped up from the floor where I lay, running to the bars and shaking them angrily.

"Where is she!?" I demanded of no one. "Where _is _she!?"

I shook the bars uselessly and felt tears fill my eyes. "Take me back! Take me out! Tell me where she is!" I shouted, my voice shaking.

I shook the bars until the action seemed to become more and more pointless, even to me. Eventually, my anger faded and my shaking slowed as I fell to the floor, feeling like sobbing. I'd lost her. I didn't know where she was, and I didn't know if I'd ever find her again. But she was smart, I told myself. She knew her stuff, and she'd get away somehow. Maybe she'd find me, and we could sort everything out together. But I wouldn't believe that we were going to be permanently separated, because the idea sounded so awful to me that I barely let the thought cross my mind. Of course I'd find her, and we'd be together, we'd be together.

But it was the first time I'd been apart from her, the first time I'd ever been without my safe-house, without my only form of gravity. I felt the crushing loss, even though it had only been a few hours that I'd not seen her face. It was etched into my memory with the kind of serenity that I was hopeless without. I needed to see her; I needed to be with her.

I stumbled back to the corner of the little cell and sat in the corner, on the old bench, sulking, if I was being honest. It was then that I heard the door open from across the room. I looked up, some small part of me hoping to see Nessie, bursting through the door and into my arms where she belonged. But it wasn't her, and I felt the crushing pain again.

It was a man who walked through the door. He looked young, handsome, I guess and clearly at the top of his game. He was carrying my backpack. Two more men flanked him, one old and professional looking, the other middle-aged with a hard face that looked like it would snap if it got any surlier looking. Everything around me seemed to be gray, I randomly noticed, the walls, the few tables in the room, the paint on the doors. The young man's suit was gray and it only seemed to add to dismalness of it all. Too lost in my pain, I all but ignored their entrance besides the glance I'd thrown them. I turned back to my feet, twining my hands around and around in my lap.

I didn't look up, but I heard sounds coming from the other side of the bars. I heard the zipper on my back pack slide, and then a clutter of sound as all our supplies and money, and books and snacks and everything from Bella, fell onto one of the tables. There was a shuffling as the men started sifting through it all. I heard their voices then.

"Looks like a couple of passports…" the voice sounded like it belonged to the young man with the gray suit. "A driver's license…Jacob Wolfe. Is it him?" he asked. I imagined his head turning towards me.

"Look up!" the cruel voice of the hard faced man instructed.

I obeyed and lifted my head silently. They stared at me for minute, and then turned back to each other. I kept my head up.

"Huh. Looks kinda like him," the young man said. "We'll figure the details out in questioning. What have you got there, Jim?" he asked the older man.

"Er…just some piece of paper with 'Rio de Janeiro' on it. I think that was where the plane at Pierson was taking him and the girl."

I paid a bit more attention after they mentioned Nessie.

"Hm. So I guess that was their next stop," the young man said. He went back to digging through the pile. "An _awful _lot of money for just a couple of kids…some medicine…chips, juice boxes…" he continued on through our belongings, muttering the names off of everything he found.

Then old hard face took over.

"Urgh, look at the books… thinks he's some sort of Einstein or what? I tell you, these sickos got no idea who they are. Filthy no good…" his vile voice trailed off and I did my best to ignore him from then on.

So it was going to be one of the classic good cop, bad cop situations. Great.

"Huh," the man named Jim said suddenly, holding up an envelope to the ceiling. "Did you see this, Harvey? Looks like a letter or something. It's addressed to him."

"Is it open?" asked Harvey.

"Looks that way," he told him.

"Well, what's it say?" Hard- face urged.

I put my hands childishly over my ears while they read the letter out loud. When they started calling my name, louder and louder, I opened my tight eyes and unplugged my ears, to look up at them cautiously.

"Who's this Bella?" asked Harvey.

I cleared my throat. "Her mom," I told them simply.

Hard-face turned purple. Jim put a hand on his shoulder.

"This Vanessa's mother, Jacob?" asked Harvey.

I nodded.

Harvey seemed to deliberate something for a minute and then took a deep breath in through his nose.

"Why don't come with me, Jacob. We're gonna go right here, through those doors, we just want to have a word," Harvey said, pointing to the gray doors to the right of me.

I stretched up out of my seat, as Jim unlocked my cell door for me.

"You look a little shaken, Jacob," Jim told me, grinning, like it was all some big joke.

I shook my head. "I just want my Nessie back," I told him, not at all responding to his humor.

While I followed them into the room I assumed they used for questioning, I quickly planned out a decent lie. They'd read the letter, and I guess that if you translated it, it could sound like something a terminal patient mother might write to a good friend when she knew she was a goner. But if they asked why she hadn't gone with a father…what could I say? He wasn't responsible enough? I was her stepfather as far as anyone knew, so maybe I could make it sound like there had been some sort of custody battle, and that Nessie would have been mine if anything had happened. Of course, then they'd start with records and we'd be here forever. This couldn't be real, it couldn't.

They sat me down in the chair then, I hadn't even noticed us enter the room. Of course, this room was gray too, darker and simple. There was one table and two chairs, one on either side of the table. It was like a set from a movie.

"Have a seat, Jacob," Harvey said to me.

I pulled the chair back roughly, with my hands still handcuffed and dropped in, hanging my head.

"So, are you gonna tell me that this was all a misunderstanding, Jacob?" Harvey asked with a sigh.

I swallowed and shook my head.

"Well, what's the story then, lowlife?" demanded hard-face.

"Easy, Ben. We're gonna figure this out even if it takes days. I don't' care if we need a trial, I'm getting to the bottom of this one," he promised.

I suddenly lifted my head, shaking my head in disagreement.

"No, no, please." God, what had happened to my bravado? What had happened to me? I was sure that it was just because I was so desperate for Nessie, but I didn't sound like me, I didn't sound like the guy who wasn't afraid of anything. But I was afraid, afraid of making things worse for Nessie. "We don't need a trial, if I could explain. I swear that anything you've heard is a lie. Please just let me explain." It bugged a little to realize I was begging a bit.

"Alright, Jacob," Harvey said, taking the seat across from me. "Explain."

"Harvey!" Ben chided. "For Christ's sake, don't give him the satisfaction! I want some questions answered first."

"Alright, fine, Ben," Harvey said, aggravated it looked like. "Go ahead."

Ben leaned forward on the table, close to my face.

"Tell me more about 'her mom'," he made little quotations in the air.

I spoke without hesitation, in small chopped sentences. "Bella was my best friend. She died not very long ago, and Nessie was her daughter. I was taking Nessie away, because Bella had said I should, and, I'm sure you can imagine, Ben, that both Nessie and I were upset. We were going to Rio so that we could relax and have a good time for while. And that's the absolute truth." Well all but the last part anyway.

"Why did _you _take her?" he asked scornfully.

"You read my letter, didn't you? Bella asked me to."

His face twitched angrily and he looked like he was going to explode. Harvey put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him away from me.

"Well, with the evidence we've been provided with, Jacob, I can almost believe that what you've said is true," Harvey said. "However, I've seen many cases like this, Jacob, and I know how easy it is to fake letters and documents such as this." He held up the letter that he'd brought with us.

I was shaking my head before he'd finished. "No, it's true. That letter is from Bella, it's from Bella, I swear. There's three more letters in the bag for her parents and Nessie."

I saw the men share a glance.

"How did this Bella die?" Jim asked me.

"Disease. Cancer. Terminal case," I said as truthfully as I could.

Harvey pursed his lips, and looked down at his papers. He wrote a few things down.

I shook my head. "Please, if you could just listen and understand. Everything I'm telling you is true, and there's _nothing _to be making a huge deal out of. Nessie is like my daughter, and her love and safety, I swear, it was all I wanted, and it's all I'll ever want! You're blowing this way out of proportion and you don't even realize!" I was shouting by the end of my little monologue.

Harvey looked reluctant to answer. Jim looked like he wanted to laugh at me.

"I'm sorry, Jacob, but it's a little late for that," Ben said sadly.

"No! No it's not! Has anyone talked to Nessie? Has anyone asked _her _what's what?"

Jim laughed at me. "Sorry, kid, but we don't tend to trust the judgment of a five year-old girl around here."

"She's not like any other five year-old," I muttered. Yeah, I thought. She's _a lot _different.

"Well, we've talked to her. Not _us _technically, but she has been questioned," Harvey told me.

I laughed out loud. Oh god, Nessie in questioning. I wondered what she'd said. I bet she was brilliant. I bet the questioners got a glimpse of how different she was. The three men stared at me. Aw well, I thought. What's telling the truth going to lose me at this point?

"Sorry," I said through the laughter. "I'm just picturing it. I guess you can't tell me what she said, right?" I guessed.

Ben looked disgusted, but Harvey's lips twitched.

"No, sorry Jacob. That information is controversial," he said.

"Oh well, she'll tell me when I see her again," I said confidently.

The men exchanged another look. It looked a little disbelieving. I grinned.

Then Harvey looked back to me.

"Alright, Jacob, here's the thing. I can believe that maybe this was a misunderstanding, we'll need to talk with Vanessa a little more, but so far, from what we've heard from you, I have reason to believe that maybe the mistake was ours," Ben stared at Harvey angrily, clearly disagreeing with everything Harvey was saying. "However," he continued. "we've also got you down for assault and destruction of private property, as well as-,"

"Wait, wait," I interrupted. "I can explain all that, too." They all looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to go on. "We were just looking for a place to stay, and this guy wakes me up with a gun in my face. I hit him purely out of self-defense. As for destruction, we were just trying to get away from the flying bullets, you know. It wasn't our fault the stairs fell apart."

"Huh," was all that Ben had to say about that. I smiled triumphantly.

"Fair enough, Jacob," Harvey admitted. "We'll have to talk to our source about that."

He sighed and scrutinized my face for along minute. So long, in fact, that Jim and Ben started to look a little worried. Harvey held a hand up to calm them. They stepped back obediently.

"Alright, Jacob," he finally sighed. "I'm gonna do something I don't normally do. I'm going to trust you."

I frowned in confusion.

He stood from his and started pacing back and forth. I was starting to feel a little hopeful. Wouldn't it be luck- probably the best luck we'd received yet- if this Harvey was in a good mood? A good enough mood to possibly let us go without a hitch? I was so desperate for an answer by that point that I clung to the hope like a life-preserver, holding on for dear life.

Harvey continued to pace, clearly lost in thought. I had a feeling that by now the other two men's opinions were pointless. It was clear from the start that Harvey was the unspoken leader, per se. It was his choices that decided my fate now.

"You look young, Jacob," he suddenly said to me, turning to look at me with an expression like curiosity. I shrugged.

He nodded. "Young… Why would a young, probably aspiring kid kidnap his best friend's child? Reading these letters, I can't believe that they're forged, and everything you've told me, Jacob, I can't help but believe it. I guess it just makes sense. Maybe we have shot this out of proportion, maybe we were wrong. The source from the north didn't seem entirely reliable when we spoke with him, anyway. Wouldn't you agree, gentleman?" he asked the two men. Ben and I were gaping. I had a feeling that the same thing I was thinking was what he was thinking. Was this guy for real?

Jim actually nodded in agreement with Harvey.

"Sorry, Ben. Overruled," Harvey decided. "Okay, Jacob, you're free to go."

I was shocked. I couldn't conceal it, it was probably so obvious on my face because Harvey seemed to notice and he smiled and nodded.

"Just like that?" I blurted out. Harvey nodded again. Ben grunted and kicked the door open, trudging away angrily.

I stood uncertainly from my chair. Harvey continued to nod in encouragement, he beckoned me to come to him, I followed and he unlocked my handcuffs. He pulled them off and I rubbed at my free wrists.

They led me back into the main room where they put the contents of our back pack back together. Ben was no where to be seen. I guess he'd just left out of anger. Cool.

As we were packing my things, something else occurred to me.

"Allwe ask, Jacob, is that you please leave the country," he added after a while. "It will make things easier for you, and us."

I nodded, that was easy enough. "So I can see Nessie again?" I asked eagerly, hopefully.

Harvey nodded. "We'll take you to where she is."

I smiled. "Thanks," I told him honestly.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9.

They took me to some sort of child safe-house in a private car, Harvey was taking me; they said it was on the east of the city. It looked like a ghetto daycare center. But as long as Nessie was there, I was happy. I practically ran from the car when we parked outside, heading straight for the doors without waiting for Harvey. My heart skipped a beat or two when I saw Nessie sitting in one of the waiting room's chairs.

"Jacob!" she exclaimed when she saw me.

"Nessie," I sighed, as I walked over to where she sat and pulled her into my arms.

I kissed both her cheeks and her forehead and she smiled. She held her hand to my face.

I missed you.

"Me too, baby," I told her.

We embraced for a while, even when we both heard Harvey enter behind me at last. But I didn't want to let her go. Having her back with me, it was the happiest I'd felt in a long time now. Finally, Harvey came and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Jacob?" he nudged.

I didn't let go of Nessie. I pulled her up into my arms, and held her there as I rose back up to Harvey's level.

"You've got a few papers to sign, and then you two can be off," he said.

When he said that, something occurred.

"Hey, how are we supposed to get Rio, though?" I asked. "We missed our flight…"

He looked unsettled. "Well, is there no where else you could-,"

I shook my head. "No. No, it has to be Rio. It's really important that we get there."

He sighed and nodded. "Alright. For you, Jacob. I'll do what I can do get you some tickets there, but that's the last favor I'm doing for you," he promised.

"Thanks, man. A lot."

"Sure thing, kid."

We signed a few papers at the center, to get Nessie out, and then Harvey drove us back to the airport. He bought us new tickets for a non-stop trip to Rio, again only for steerage. Out of thanks, I gave him a fair amount of money before we parted. He told me it wasn't necessary in any way, but I'd insisted; he'd done a lot for me. I thanked him once more before we boarded and he stared off after with a strange look in his eyes, and then we were off.

We took our seats in steerage- Nessie took the window seat-and settled down for the ride. The two seats that we'd had assigned were made almost useless though, because about thirty minutes into the flight, Nessie sighed and climbed out of her seat and into my lap. I hugged her tightly. It was still around midday, but I saw her eyes drooping a bit; she must not have gotten much sleep last night. I couldn't blame her.

She seemed troubled, though. Every time she looked on the brink of sleep, she would force her eyes open again, and frown.

"What's up, Nessie?" I asked after a while.

She shrugged and spoke surprisingly. "I just don't know what's going to happen now. Why are we going to where we're going?" she asked, looking confused.

"Well," I began. She wanted to know, and if she wanted the truth, I would give it to her. Always. "We don't know where your Momma and Daddy are right now. But, your mom thought that Auntie Alice and Uncle Jazz might be waiting for us in Rio." I explained.

"Oh…" she still looked bothered. "Why Rio, though? Why are Auntie Alice and Uncle Jazz _there_?"

"Well, they were looking for help. And also, when we get there, we're going to work with them, to learn more about you." I touched my finger to her nose.

Her lips twitched a little, and she sighed. Lost in thought, I guessed, she didn't speak for the remainder of our flight.

We got off in Rio late that night. Nessie was awake by now, though, having slept through the day. She walked beside me with her hand in mine, looking around the little airport in wonder. I found our suitcase, which Harvey had retrieved for us back in Toronto. I took Nessie to a family bathroom, and we changed into some clothes more appropriate for the weather. I didn't know where to go from there, so I looked around for an information booth or something; some one had to know where a Cullen was around here.

Finally I found a customer service counter with one dark skinned man behind it. He had a name tag on, introducing him as Jesus. I hoped he spoke English.

"Hello," I said guardedly as I walked up to him.

He nodded and smiled.

"Er, I'm looking for Cullen," I told him, speaking slowly, enunciating each word carefully. He smiled and nodded again, but did nothing to help me. I huffed a sigh in exasperation.

"Cullen? Do you know where Cullen is?" I asked again.

He frowned now. "Cull…en?" he said with a heavy accent.

I nodded. "Yes, I need to find Cullen."

He looked confused. What kind of person worked at an airport who didn't speak any more than one language?

"Do you know where I can find Cullen?" I asked again.

He shook his head in miscomprehension. Ugh, I really wished they'd offered Spanish instead of Quileute at my school as a second language.

I heard a man come up behind me and ask a question in Spanish to Jesus. I didn't catch most of it except the word Cullen; he was helping me.

He turned to me and smiled as Jesus nodded at the man and started skimming through a computer.

"Thanks," I said appreciatively.

He nodded understandingly. "Spanish doesn't only help me sometimes," he laughed. "You're gonna wanna learn it if you're planning on staying here for any time."

I grinned. "Yeah, well, I guess I am due for a lesson."

He smiled back at me and then looked at Jesus. His brow was furrowed as he scanned the screen. He sighed and turned back to my savior and shook his and said something in Spanish.

"Gracias," said the man who'd helped us to Jesus. Then he turned back to us. "He says there's no record of any sort of Cullen," he told me solemnly.

"Nothing?" I demanded. Not even a second home or something? It seemed like something they might do. The man looked at Jesus and repeated my words in Spanish.

Jesus shrugged and looked again. After a minute, he looked up to the man and said something else.

The man looked at me. "He says there's an island _owned _by a Mr. Cullen, just off the coast. Is that what you were looking for?"

I grinned. Of course. Only the Cullens would own an _island. _

"Yeah, that's it. Have you got directions there or something?" I asked Jesus.

The man told Jesus what I'd said and Jesus nodded helpfully. We waited patiently for him print the information we needed and then he handed us the paper with the directions on it. They were in Spanish.

"Er, sir?" I said to the man. "These are written in Spanish."

"Oh," he smiled kindly. He pulled a pen form his pocket. "This means 'right'," he said as he circled a word and wrote the translation above it. "And this one means 'left'," he muttered doing the same to another word. "And the rest is just street names. Oh, wait, here," he added circling another word. "That's 'turn'."

I smiled once more at him. "Thanks a lot, man."

"Sure thing," he said as he walked away.

"Alright, Ness, let's go," I said with a sigh.

We rented a car and I followed the translated instructions to the coast line of Rio. Nessie sat in the front seat behind me, on what we were calling 'scent-patrol'. Her job was to keep aware of any scent of Alice or Jasper. She'd taken the job willingly, and now sat at the very edge of her seat, staring back and forth out of the windows.

"Smell anything, Nessie?" I asked about halfway there.

She shook her head. "Not really…" she muttered. "I can smell…something…but it's from a long time ago, I think."

"Huh. That's weird. Can you tell who it was?"

She frowned. "I can smell Daddy," she admitted.

I stared at incredulously. "How much?" I asked.

She shook her head again. "Not much. It's old, very old. I only smell it a little. Just a tiny bit."

"Hmmm," was all I could say.

I sat in thought for while. So Edward had been here as much as Nessie could tell. I smelled around as well, and realized she was right. It was very faint, so old that it was practically not there. There were too many other scents to tell if he had been alone. I knew it would be almost impossible to know if he'd been with Bella while she was human, because there were too many humans around to confuse her with. She had a unique scent, that was for sure, but it was still human, and therefore was lost with time.

Finally we reached the coast and we parked the car at the docks there. It was still dark, and I guessed at about two or three in the morning. We got out of the car, and walked up and down the line of docks, looking for a boat that belonged to Cullen. There were names next to each of the docks with the boats on them, all of them fancy and big yachts. At the very end we found a boat, with the name 'Cullen' written on a sign in front of the dock. The boat there was still as fancy as the others, only it looked a little more built for speed as opposed to luxury. Of course.

I hopped onto the dock and into the boat, looking for a key or something. There wasn't much in there as far as I could tell, but I knew how to hot wire a vehicle. I played around with the ignition until I found the sweet spot, and I felt the boat purr to life beneath me.

"Come on, Nessie," I whispered to her. She jumped from the dock to the boat and sat down beside me.

We drove out into the ocean then, keeping an eye-and a nose-out for any sign of Alice and Jasper. Again, we didn't find much. But after a while, the vampire smell became strong. Stronger, stronger and stronger. The source became clear as a small but decently sized island came into view. We sped along now, directly to the island. We parked the boat along the beach, sliding up onto the sand, and out of the water. I helped Nessie out so she wouldn't get wet, and then we looked around in curiosity.

There were forestry and tropical trees everywhere, all seeming to circle around this one big white house. Even though it was dark, the house seemed to glow in the moonlight. We walked up the white sand, towards the house. It looked similar to the Cullen's house back in Forks, only this one was smaller and more quant.

I slung the back pack over my shoulders, and Nessie grabbed the suitcase. I told her I could take it, but she insisted. I snickered and let it be. She dragged it along behind us and we reached the front door.

I reached out cautiously, taking the handle and turning it with care. We peaked around the corner of the door and stepped into a large living room kind of area. I flicked on a light and stared around me. The back wall was a large window, just like the other house. Everything looked all brand new, the TV, the chairs and couches, all the appliances in the kitchen. There were doors down a wooden hallway leading to bedrooms, I guess.

It was pretty beautiful.

Wow, but it smelt like them. All around me was the familiar scent of the Cullens. It was not new, but it was much more noticeable in this concealed area. And…Bella. But it was human Bella, the Bella I knew. It was everywhere. Clearly, no had cleaned the house since whoever had been here last had been here. I thought they'd have a cleaning crew or something. I guess they didn't come up here often. Nessie walked off, looking like she was absorbed in the house, in the direction of the bedrooms. I stared off after her in wonder.

But I turned the other direction and went to the kitchen. In the fridge there wasn't much, just a platter of food, and some old eggs. The cupboards were empty but for some snacking food and a few cooking supplies. Plates and utensils were all there, too.

I sat on the counter with a stale bag of chips and thought things over. What had Bella been doing here? Her scent was here, there was no doubt about that. I smelled Edward, too. So they had probably been here together.

Oh.

I realized then as something Bella had said a very long time ago came back to me.

"...Isle Esme and…feathers."

Ew. The chips seemed to get more disgusting in my hands and I tossed them into the sink. They'd been here for their honeymoon. This was where it had all started. This had been where my life had started. Well… Nessie's life anyway. It amounted to the same thing.

Nessie!

I jumped from the counter and went in the direction I'd seen her go. A door to a big white bedroom with a big white bed was slightly ajar and poked my head in to see Nessie lying on the bed. She didn't look asleep, she looked dazed.

"Nessie?" I asked.

She turned her head towards me, and sat up. She sighed.

"What's up?" I went over and sat beside her on the bed.

She put her hand in mine and she played back memories of the smell, of the feeling of being here.

"You've been here before?" I asked incredulously.

She shrugged and spoke at last. "I can't remember," she admitted.

I frowned and picked her up off the bed. She rested her head on my shoulder.  
"Tired yet, Ness?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Thirsty," she muttered.

I grinned. "Well, let's see if we can find any game on this island." I doubted it, but there had to be _something_.

I hadn't phased in so long, but I felt like I should hunt with Nessie, so she wouldn't feel like the only one. I didn't have to get worked up or anything, I just phased right into wolf form and chased after Nessie through the small forest.

We didn't find much around, so we went back to the ocean to find something there. I didn't know how Nessie would benefit from anything there, but I caught a few fish, and ate them raw, wolf-like.

Nessie sat dejectedly on the beach, and looked around in the water waiting for something, _anything_ good enough for her.

I was so distracted that I was shocked out of my mind when I heard the tiny voice. It was familiar, friendly, young, and boyish. It was also in my head.

_Jacob? Is that you?_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11.

**Oooooooooooh, new POV =D**

Seth Clearwater.

"Come _on, _Edward," I pleaded. "Can't you hear anything?"

I was being naggy, but come on. We were never going to know where Jake was. He probably thought we were all dead or something. He wasn't totally wrong, but still, he should know what was happening.

"I'm trying," Edward growled, his face in his hands. We were both sitting on the couch, and what was left of his family walked around us, going about their own daily stuff. It was different now, with loss hanging in the air.

I felt guilty for being so rude, since he was probably in enough pain, but I needed to know something about Jacob. And Nessie too, of course. It would make Edward happy to know some one close to him and everyone else had made it.

I looked away and frowned.

Ever since the fight, things had never been the same around here. Edward always had that look in his eye, the kind he had while Bella was pregnant, only worse. Way worse. The same look was always in everyone's eyes. But I knew that even though we'd lost people, we'd still sort of succeeded. I almost cried as I remembered how it had all turned out…

We'd all been so sure we were going to die. When that first one lunged at us, I'd had this sort of feeling. I didn't care, really, we weren't dying for nothing. But we knew our plans. We hadn't been supposed to attack anyone until we were ambushed. So it became pretty painful to watch as all the vampires we'd gotten to know so well fought before our eyes. We watched wearily, as Bella tried to be everywhere, trying to shield everyone from any of the ones with extra powers. I saw Benjamin trying to make nature follow his rules. It had been even more terrible to see Jacob run past us, with Nessie on his back. Great. I'd known that it was best, Nessie should be safe. Of course, I'd still been kind of cheesed at Jake.

_Where are you going?! Jacob!_

We'd all tried calling to him, but he didn't stop, not for anything.

So I'd gone back to paying attention to the fight around me. Finally, another came our way and dove for Collin. Sam jumped between them, and the two had started a vicious battle. The one that had attacked didn't look strong, and Sam eventually took him out. Of course, by that point, many more were converging on us. I felt responsible with Jacob gone, to protect the younger kids. Alright, so maybe I was one of them, but I had fought vampires before, I'd felt ready. I'd managed to kill one after a long fight. But it had only gotten worse around me. I saw fires starting, man-made fires all around us, and the smell of vampires made my eyes water. The kids around me started whimpering. I forgot the plan, and ran straight ahead even when Leah'd tried calling me back. I took on one of the more challenging ones, sharing with who I'd thought was Emmett; it was hard to tell in all the confusion.

We'd all stopped abruptly when the tinkling voice came from beyond the trees.

"Stop!" Alice had yelled.

Even the Volturi stopped. Aro shouted for them to relax, because Alice was not alone.

"Stop, stop, stop!" she ordered once more. She'd walked into the middle of the combat, Jasper following behind her guardedly. Of course, as soon as Jasper was there, everyone mellowed-out. And he was totally overdoing it to. I felt like sleeping.

Alice had been accompanied by a dark skinned man, he looked maybe just over twenty. He was good-looking, and I couldn't really tell if he was a vampire or not. Which was strange. There was also a woman there, and she was definitely a vampire.

Alice began telling the story of the boy, his name had been Nahuel, and we learned that he was exactly like Nessie. Of course, the Volturi didn't believe that Nessie and Nahuel could possibly be the same. Nessie wasn't there anymore to prove it. That was when everything seemed to fall apart.

Bella had stepped forward from the crowd, looking shaken, and did something that would probably have started us fighting again, were it not for Jasper's influence.

"Take me," she'd said confidently. "Take me and leave, and stay away from my family."

There were gasps all around us. Edward jumped up from behind and stood before her, his eyes full of fear and disbelief.

"Bella," he'd whispered.

She'd just shaken her head at him.

Aro raised his eyebrows. "Of what value would you be to us?"

"I can shield. But if you just stop this now, I promise to work with you."

"Bella, no, it's not necessary," Edward urged. Bella looked at Edward significantly and kissed him fleetingly for one second.

"Aro," Bella said. "If you'd consider the compromise-,"

"This is insanity!" Caius screeched. "Kill her now!"

Aro held a hand up. "No, I think it's wise. Bella," he'd smiled hideously. "Come."

She walked forward without hesitation and stood before Aro.

He stared her up and down. Caius touched Aro's hand and Aro shrugged.

"Fair enough, Caius," he said. "Bella, if you truly wish to join us, I'd like you to prove to us your loyalty."

She frowned.

"Kill some one!" Caius ordered.

Edward's fists were clenched and his hands twitched convulsively.

"Aro!" he roared. "Stop this now!"

Alice looked scared, surprised as she saw how her plan had seemingly backfired. She stepped forward now.

"Aro," she spoke softly, calmingly. "I will also join you. But you must not degrade Bella this way."

"Alice!" I heard Esme whisper from somewhere behind us.

Alice just nodded.

"Well," Aro said, smiling happily as Alice stood beside Bella. "Wonderful. Glad to finally have you Alice, my dear. I suppose we can leave then. Don't doubt that we will be back. And we'll find this monstrosity you've created, too. Until next time, Carlisle." And they left. They just left.

Of course, none of it mattered now. Bella was gone with the Volturi and so was Alice. And we still didn't know where Jacob or Nessie was. It had been kind of funny at least when Charlie had shown up to inspect the supposed 'forest fires'. We told him everything. He was a bit…terrified. But he seemed accepting enough, and just as worried as the rest of us about Bella and Alice. And of course Jake and Ness. And for that, he agreed to stay at the Cullens' house for his own safety; the only ones who knew eh was there were my mom and Billy. While we'd been out fighting, some of the Volturi body guards had sneaked past us to the house and raided it for Nessie. It was a mess when we'd gotten in. I helped the remaining members of the family clean up, feeling slow and unhelpful while they all ran around me. The rest of the vampires who hadn't died ran in a state of sadness; some of them had lost coven-members. They got away as fast as possible out to hide, or search or die…I don't really know.

The rest of the pack went back to La Push, even Quil and Embry. Leah stayed with me for a while, but even she couldn't stand it anymore, and so I was the only werewolf left in the Cullen house.

I'd stayed there for a few weeks now, just waiting to hear something from Jacob, maybe. I'd tried phasing and getting a hold of him there, but he never responded, and I never heard him.

I slumped back into the couch, just staring at Edward. He didn't look up from his hands.

"What about…Alice?" I asked.

He still didn't look up. "I can't hear a thing, Seth. She's not coming through at all, which is completely unlike her, and where ever Jacob is, he's either not listening or not paying attention. There's nothing I can do." He spoke in clipped sentences, but I could hear the strain in his voice.

I sighed and got up from the couch.

"Thanks anyway, man," I muttered. I took off from the house, and dove into the nighttime forest, phasing easily.

I just ran around for a while, thinking. I couldn't hear anyone else, so I guessed that maybe Leah was still sulking in her human form. Quil and Embry weren't there either, which was weird. Whatever, the aloneness was pretty cool.

I thought about Edward, and how he must be feeling. I'd lost a friend. He'd lost his wife, his sister, and now his daughter, too. I don't care what you say; I was sure he had it worse than me. And the rest of his family was clearly pained. It was obvious in everyone's faces, in their actions. Esme's smile didn't seem as genuine when she'd handed me homemade breakfast this morning. Emmett didn't laugh when we watched the football game on Sunday. Rosalie stopped making jokes about the dog breath. We hadn't even celebrated the New Year in any way. It was hard to watch, tough to bear.

So sometimes just being out for a run was the best feeling the world. Breathing in my own space and time, using up any of the happiness left. I was just skimming through my mind, looking around for any signs of Jacob when suddenly-I thought I did. It was just a bit of a nagging in the back of my head, quiet. But I clung to it carefully, paying strict attention. I even stopped running and listened with all my might.

_God, there's nothing out here. She's probably so thirsty…we'll never get back to the main-land…no, she won't want fish…maybe we could take the boat back just for a while…_

I listened with my eyes wide. It was Jacob! It was! I would recognize his voice anywhere.

_Jacob? Is that you?_

He didn't answer for a while, and I freaked for minute. Had it all been in my head?  
I felt tears fill my eyes, and I ran back to the house.

_Edward! Edward! _I called in my head.

He came out of the house, looking at me expectantly.

_Seth! Seth! Seth! _Jacob said excitedly.

I nodded at Edward, and he smiled a little, jumping down off the deck, and in front of me.

_Holy CRAP, Jacob! Jacob, Jacob! Where are you?! _I demanded.

_I'm in Rio! _he laughed. _With Nessie! Tell everyone, she's fine, Seth, she's perfectly fine._

Edward's face lit up at that and his face contorted strangely, somewhere between a smile and a need to burst into tears.

"Tell him thank you, Seth. From the bottom of my heart," he instructed.

I nodded.

_Wow, Jake. Edward says thank you, man._

_You tell him that I wouldn't have let anything happen. She's safe and happy, and that he doesn't need to thank me, because I didn't do it for him._

Edward grinned and nodded. "Thank you, Seth," he laughed. He laughed. Wow.

I was in shock, complete disbelief.

_Jacob, holy crap, Jacob._

_I know, man._

We sort of just sat there in silence, in shock. Jacob was alive, and so was Nessie. It was the most hopeful I'd felt in a long time.

_Me too, kid. _Jacob said.

We waited again. Then I almost heard a click in his mind and something else occurred to him.

_But, Seth! How are you alive? What the hell happened?_

_Oh man, Jake, it was crazy. So we're all fighting, right? And then, out of NOWHERE Alice is there with this guy who's exactly like Nessie. But the Volturi didn't believe us, so Bella said she'd go with them instead, and then Alice did, too, and now…well, that's where they are._

Jacob didn't say anything for a long time. He went over what I'd said in shock and then asked another question.

_But she's alive?_

_As far as we know._

He seemed to mull that over for a minute, seemingly appeased.

_And what about Charlie and the forest fires? I read the news… _

_Oh that. Yeah…well we lost a few…on our side and theirs, I think. But Charlie's fine, the Volturi were already gone by then. He's been staying here. He knows everything._

He didn't believe that. _Charlie knows everything? So much for need to know._

_Yeah, well, we couldn't really keep in the dark forever, you know. But he has been calling my mom everyday. _I snickered.

He thought that was pretty funny. _Calling as in… what? They're together now or something?_

_Yup. He was pretty pissed to know that she knew about the Cullens before he did._

_Huh._

We were quiet again for a while. Jacob was trying to figure out what that would make us in relation to each other if Charlie married my mom, and if he someday married Nessie, which he would, of course.

_I think that means I'd be your uncle. _I laughed.

_Yeah, you wish, kid._

Edward had gone back inside, leaving me alone to have my little reuniting with Jacob.

_So, uh…_he finally said. _Who did we lose? Just come out with it._

_Er, well, I don't know everyone's name…it was some of the vampires…and I think that Carlisle was talking about how we'd lost some one from the Denali clan._

_Oh. And who did they lose?_

_I don't know, man. We killed a few, that's all I know. _

_Alright, well that's not terrible. No one from the pack right?_

_Not that I know of._

_Alright, good._

We were quiet again. Jacob was thinking things over, remembering the girls from Denali, trying to imagine which one had been lost.

_I think they said Carmen or something. Everyone leaving looked pretty torn up, though. _I told him.

_Oh._

He thought about that for a minute, trying to remember who Carmen was.

_So when are you coming home, Jake?_

He was struck dumb. He didn't seem to understand what I'd said.

_Home?_

_Yeah, Jake, you gotta come home now._

_But we just got here. And how do we even know if it's safe there?  
Jake, there're still, like, six vampires here, not to mention the whole pack. I think that coming here's safest._

_I guess it makes sense…_

_Of course it does. You and Nessie belong here. And, plus, I've been pretty bored without my Alpha around. _I joked. Wow, I never thought I'd be joking with Jacob again.

He still seemed a little surprised. And…angry? What was that about?

_I'll tell you what it's about, _he said. _Do you know what I've gone through to get here? What's been happening? Like, at all?_

I was a little hurt. I mean, did it matter now? He could come home. We could be a family again. _But, Jake…_

_Do you? _he interrupted.

_Well, no. _I admitted.

_Exactly. I've been through way too much crap to forget it all now._

_But, Jake, I thought the whole point of this was so we could be safe again._

_No, Seth. It was to keep Nessie safe. We're safe here._

He was dead wrong, of course. He was being stubborn, I thought. Nessie would be one thousand times safer here than anywhere else. And she probably wanted to be home anyway.

_What, and have to see that her mom's been taken hostage? I don't think so. _Jacob said.

I had a feeling that there was an ulterior motive he was hiding from me, trying very hard to keep away. I didn't get the whole thought but I caught a feeling of it, something I recognized as greed.

_This isn't really about… _I started.

Jacob was worried it looked like, nervous as he realized I'd found the root problem.

He played dumb anyway.

_What?_

_You're not just staying away so that you can stay with Nessie longer, are you? _

He was silent.

So maybe I didn't know what it felt like to imprint, what it felt like to find the one you couldn't live without. But this seemed a little ridiculous. Nessie probably _wanted _to come home. And if Jacob was letting his need for her bring the rest of Nessie's family down, then that was totally selfish. Of course Nessie wanted to come home.

Jacob seemed chagrined.

_She hasn't said anything really… _he said, ashamed.

_Well that's 'cause she probably still thinks that there's no one here waiting for her._

He didn't talk for a long time after that. I was afraid maybe he'd phased back and disappeared again, but I could still sort of hear him thinking everything over, just considering everything. He still seemed ashamed of himself. Maybe he just couldn't help it. Like I said, I didn't know what it felt like to imprint.

_No, I can't really help it, _he finally admitted._ If I could, I wouldn't feel so crappy about myself right now._

_Come home, Jake. Come on._

_I'm gonna, man. We're coming home._


	12. Please Read, Important Note

**Important Author's Note, Please Read.**

**I was almost not going to continue with this story. But even with the minimal amount of support, I felt like I should keep going. It wasn't easy, and I can't guarantee that the coming events are what anyone expects or what anyone wants. But maybe the turns will surprise you, maybe they'll disappoint you, even so, I feel compelled to keep writing just for my benefit; the story I've built up will just bother me now, what with no ending and no resolution. So, strictly so I don't lose anymore sleep over this story, you can expect new chapters coming later this week. I'm putting on my Team Jacob shirt and getting to work, right away. I'm just going to add the new chapters, without any true discretion, I guess, just pure need. I'm sorry if my own feelings shine through in Jacob's at times, half the things he's thinking are what I'm thinking, what I would be thinking as not only a writer, but also if I were Jacob in his situation. But I'm going to go for it any, just see where Jacob and Renesmee lead me next. Thank you to all of you who have gotten this far. And, please, always leave a review, I love feedback. Wish me luck against the writer's block. Thank you all, again**.


	13. Chapter 13

Part Two.

**Alright, so here I reconciled with myself. =]**

**To all those asking, "How can it be Jacob's Escape if he's coming home?" Ici, ca c'est ton reponse. Oops, I mean, this is your answer. PART TWO. Word.**

Home…Right?

Chapter 12

Jacob Black.

So it had been one big epic trip to Rio. One big epic trip to get there and now we'd be leaving. One big epic journey, with no epic ending. But that wasn't certain yet, once we got home, our journey would only be half finished. Well, the less action, the better I guessed… for now, anyway.

It took a few goodbyes before I could convince myself, and Seth, to phase back and leave him for a while. I would let him go spread the good news that we were alive and coming home. Nessie seemed more than surprised to see me come out of the water, phase back into human form and, of all things, smile at her.

"Jacob?" she asked me warily.

"Guess what, Ness?" I said, instead of answering her.

She grinned in anticipation. "What?"

"We're going home!" I told her excitedly.

She looked confused. "Home? But we just go here…" she said, repeating my words.

"Yeah, that's right, I know. But, I was just talking to Seth! Seth, Nessie! And he says that your Momma and Daddy are just fine,"- well, alive anyway-"and that we can go back home now."

She smiled but still looked a tad mystified. "Really?"

"Yes, really! Come on, we need get ready." I took her hand and led her back to the house. She wandered around aimlessly while I got dressed and packed our few things back up into the one suitcase.

"Nessie?" I called when I was finished.

"Here, Jacob," she responded quietly from down hallway.

I followed her voice and found her in a new bedroom this time, one that looked completely untouched since who I assumed were Bella and Edward had been here. The walls were blue, but pieces of black fabrics were scattered all over. The head board of the bed had been destroyed, torn up by what could only be the shape of hands. The bed was only barely made.

Ew.

Nessie was just looking around, examining everything carefully, curiously.

"Do we have to leave tonight, Jacob?"

"Well, er, I guess we can stay just for the night," I said, sort of awkwardly.

Nessie had wanted to sleep in the blue room, but I'd convinced her that the guest room might be more…what had I said? Something like, appropriate. Well, more appropriate for my stomach. I found her lying on the bed of the blue room the next morning.

"Come on, Ness. We gotta get going," I told her.

She sighed but followed me out. We rode the boat back to the main-land, and I made sure to get Nessie fed before we went _anywhere_. The car we'd rented had remained where we'd left it and we drove it around for a bit. Nessie managed to find something in the warm forests around the area, and so we headed back in the direction of the airport. Nessie read the directions from the way there backwards for me.

With the little amount of money we had left, we were still able to snag a decent non-stop back to Washington, where I guessed we could figure everything else out. On the plane, I sort of got to thinking how this had to be almost too good to be true. Well, except for Bella and Alice. But, I mean, were we really going home? Even for a while? Either way, there were butterflies in my stomach the whole way there. Nessie sat beside me, constantly looking out the window in interest or just in anticipation.

Hours later, the plane landed, and the sun was just setting over the dreary skies of Port Angeles. Nessie was biting her lip as we exited the airport, forgetting about cars, and deciding that we'd run the rest of the way. We strayed to the very far ends of the city, finally hitting the forest and bolting from there. I phased once we were safely hidden, trying to get hold of Seth. He was already there.

_Jake! Where are you at? _he asked.

_Not far, kid. We just got out of Port Angeles._

He seemed giddy with excitement.

_Sweet! We'll meet you…where? La Push or at the Cullens'? _

_I'm thinking the Cullens' place._

_Cool._

Nessie was keeping pace beside me easily and she looked as excited as Seth had sounded. I heard his joyous thoughts while I ran on.

It seemed impossible, utterly unbelievable when we reached the Cullens' backyard through the forest. This _was _happening. We _were _home. When I saw Seth-_Seth, _who I'd thought had been dead- I couldn't believe it. When he ran right up to me, back in his human form, and hugged me, I was in awe. I could hear him crying, and I might have done the same, just so happy to be with him again. We hugged for a long time, and then he let me go and turned to Nessie, who was standing beside us, staring at the house, waiting for Edward, I guessed. But Seth was excited to see her too.

"Nessie!" he almost shouted, and bent to her level to hug her like he had me. We all heard when Edward walked up behind Seth and stood there, staring at Nessie like the most precious jewel, like the most expensive piece of history, like she was an angel.

She all but shoved Seth out of the way, and jumped right up into Edward's arms. They held each other even longer than Seth and I had, and he stroked her hair, kissed her cheeks, spoke quietly to her, and just held her there for a long time. Nessie looked perfectly content, the most genuine kind of happiness I'd seen on her face in a _long _time.

In between his whispers to Nessie, he would randomly to turn to me, and say something like, "Thank you, Jacob" or "I knew you would do this, Jacob". I was still a wolf so I would always just nod or even just bow my head. Eventually, Edward led us back inside the house, and I quickly ran into the forest to phase and change into the last clean pair of clothes from the suitcase. Once we were inside, the real onslaught began. The minute we were through the door, everyone was all over Nessie.

Carlisle and Esme seemed so perfectly happy to have me back, and, to be honest, I was pretty happy to see them, too. In fact, I was happy to see all the Cullens, even Rosalie; it felt so normal to be here, like family. Of course, the happiness settled down a bit after a while, and everyone sat around the large living room, Nessie on Edward's lap. Then the questions started.

"So…what's the story, then, Jake?" Seth asked. "What happened to you guys?"

I shook my head. "A lot. Way too much. I got arrested," I said with a slightly smug smile.

It was silent; everyone gaping at me. Then Emmett burst out laughing.

"Arrested?" he demanded through the laughter. "Why?"

"Emmett," Edward muttered. Emmett rolled his eyes but stopped laughing at least.

"Well, here were the charges: apparently, the OPP took me in for kidnap, assault, destruction of private property and resisting arrest."

They all gaped again, just stared at me like I'd said something crazy.

Edward blinked twice. "Perhaps you should start from the beginning, Jacob," he suggested.

"Alright, sure." And so I told them everything, from the run to the Yukon, to Frank, to Yellowknife, to Toronto, to Harvey, to Rio, and then finally back here. There was a bit of interruption at the Frank part. Actually, it was more of a mad out burst.

"He s_hot _you?" Rosalie demanded.

"Was Nessie hurt?" Edward asked.

"Of all the things he could have thought…" muttered Esme.

"Were you hurt at all, Jacob?" Carlisle finally asked.

At that I nodded. "He shot me in the arm," I announced.

"He _what?_" demanded Seth.

"Yeah, wanna see?" I pulled the sleeve of my T-shirt up, to reveal the still noticeable bump in my forearm from the bullet. I heard Carlisle gasp, along with Esme.

"Oh, Jacob, I can fix that for you. Are you in any pain?" He switched from parent to doctor in an instant.

"Not…terribly. I mean, I can feel it, but it's pretty easy to ignore, ya know?"

He nodded seriously. "We'll tale care of it right away," he promised.

"But, Jacob," Edward said. "Was Renesmee hurt?" he asked again.

"I don't know, were you, Ness? You told me you hit your head…"

Edward acted quickly; lifting Nessie to feel around her head gently for what I guessed was any sign of damage. Nessie winced once when he touched a spot behind her ear.

"Does it hurt there, love?" Edward asked her.

She shrugged, and touched his face.

He paid attention to her thoughts for a moment, and then nodded. "That doesn't matter, love. We can just help it so it doesn't bother you anymore," he told her.

She groaned and lightly tapped his face again. He laughed.

"No, I know. We'll make sure Jacob is fine, too." I grinned.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked

He shook his head as he placed Nessie back in his lap. "Nothing, really. She just has a bruise…I didn't know that could happen. I suppose it's logical, seeing as she does have the blood, but I wouldn't have expected her skin to be so easily penetrated…" he muttered, eventually fading out into thoughts.

That was the only interruption, but they did seem to be as surprised as I was at my easy dismissal in Toronto.

"I guess he was just in a good mood," I said.

"It still seems a tad strange," Edward disagreed.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. I'm guessing we have more important things to worry about…?"

Edward looked uncomfortable at the subject. "It's late," he decided. He was right, too. I checked the time, and after the day of travel, and the afternoon of my story, it was getting pretty late.

"I'll put Renesmee to bed," Edward said. He got up from his chair, hugging Esme on his way upstairs. It was quiet, for a while, and I took the time to look around at one of the closest things to a family around me. I noticed that Jasper was no where to be seen. I sort of realized that he hadn't been there at all. That was strange.

On the thought of family, I suddenly decided that tomorrow I would go to La Push with Seth, so that I could see everyone from the pack, and my dad. Seth told me that Charlie was at Sue's for the night; the only other place that was safe for him was La Push. So I'd be seeing everyone tomorrow.

Edward came back downstairs, looking tranquil. He walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. The rest of his family silently dispersed and went about their business.

"Jacob," he began. "I know I've said it before, but I hope you know how much I thank you for this. It means the world to me what you've done. I'm…I'm proud to call you a brother…a son."

I swallowed back the emotion in my throat, and nodded fiercely. "It was worth it," was my response. He nodded back at me, and held his hand out. I was stuck for second thinking he was going pull me into a hug or something. I took his hand and he shook mine fiercely, holding it in both of his. He didn't really look at me; he just looked at the ground, looking like he would cry if he could. I resolved on just accepting it, at looking at this guy like a friend rather than an enemy or a rival, just forgot all our old battles and let it in. He finally released me, and he looked like he was still on the verge of 'tears'. But he smiled and smacked my shoulder with his fist. I grinned, but my face turned almost hard as I realized our next task.

"So, what are we doing about Bella now?" I asked.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13.

Jacob Black

He seemed unnerved by the question. His face became as emotionless as a rock and he stared me right down.

"I don't know yet," he admitted.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"I know, I know," he said, exasperated. "But without Alice to provide us with any kind of premonition I feel, as the rest of my family does, nearly blind. My extra sense is pointless at this point, because I'm quite sure that Aro is checking Alice's head every other day to see if she's seen us coming there. However-,"

"Wait, wait," I interrupted. "Say that again."

He sighed. "Aro. He sees every thought you've ever had, every one. So, I'm assuming from what I know of Aro, that he expects a pursuit by us, and so he'll making sure Alice hasn't seen us planning on going yet. If he does sense that we will be, then we will undoubtedly all be killed. Even if the only reason we were going was to prove the truth about Renesmee, and return our family to their rightful place."

He finished his little explanation, looking oddly tired while my mouth hung open and I took in all the new information. Finally, I gained control and snapped my face back together so that I could think of some way around the complications.

"But if we could get a hold of Alice-,"

"We're blind without her, Jacob!" he suddenly snapped. "You don't seem to understand. She naturally won't want to be in any kind of contact with me, because if Aro is doing what I know he's doing, then he'll know everything that's happening. He's seen Renesmee in Alice's thoughts, but won't believe a thing until he actually sees her. But if we go, he'll destroy us all. But there just has to be a way around that!" It seemed like he was talking more to himself now. His family and Seth were drawing in closer again to hear the potential plan that was forming. I was sure that they'd heard the information before, but maybe now they were counting on me to think of something useful. And, to be honest, I had nothing.

Edward turned away from me and started pacing up and down, back and forth, flitting around like wired atom, moving five feet at a time in milliseconds.

"We need…we need some form of reassurance before we can act on anything. Something that will make me believe that this can be peaceful as opposed to a bloodbath."

"If we could get them to listen for even a moment-," Carlisle started to add.

"We_ tried _that already, Carlisle," Edward said cuttingly. "and look what's happened!"

"It could be different this time, Edward," Esme murmured. "It will be only us, maybe even only you, if you'd prefer. Surely Aro would not anticipate a battle if you arrived alone with Renesmee."

Seth and I both nodded in agreement. It was the first _logical _suggestion yet. Except for the fact that I would be included in that trip as well. I would go with Edward and Nessie if they were planning on going alone.

"That might not be best, Jacob," Edward contradicted. "We know how the Volturi feel about werewolves, and I don't think they'd be particularly pleased if you walked right on in." He was still pacing, so fast now that he was almost a blur. He suddenly stopped and a knowing look crossed his face. He almost smiled.

"Rose! That's not a bad idea, actually," he said excitedly, turning around to face Rosalie with a slightly awe-struck look in his eye.

"What idea?" she asked scathingly, her face confused.

"That! What you just thought! Because you're almost right. But the question is whether or not we'd be willing to _wait _that long…" He turned around again and started pacing again, only more slowly this time.

"Will some one _please _tell mewhat I've missed here?" Emmett demanded.

"What Rosalie thought was that _if _Aro _is _keeping an eye on Alice, then he'll have seen Jacob come back by now. _If _Alice saw that anyway. Which wouldn't surprise me. She may not be looking, but she'll still see, even if she tries not to. This is purely guessing now, so bare with me. The Volturi could potentially come back here if they saw that Renesmee was back. It's not certain…but Aro isn't aware that Alice's visions are subjective, I'm quite sure that he'll believe whatever Alice shows him. This is probably exactly what Alice knows too! She _knows _that Aro thinks her visions are certain, anything she sees, _anything, _will go through him as definite events. No strings attached!"

We all just stared at him like he was crazy.

"Edward. _Please. _Pick us up to speed here." I plead.

He sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself."

"Just dumb it down, maybe," Seth suggested.

Edward grinned. "I _think _that they might come back. Here's what's wrong with this, though. This time, they would come for proof and information, _not _to return Alice and…Bella."- He swallowed and gathered his attitude again-"Also, not all of them would come a second time. They have Alice at their disposal now, and they'll know what our intentions are most likely. _If _they end up coming back, that is. And, so, I think we need to wait, not long, mind you. If we find that in the next month or so, no one is coming for us, then we will go there, and we _will _put our family back together. Because if they come here, they won't be looking for compromise, and they won't be coming for negotiation. They'll be coming to see Nessie and nothing else. I would be surprised if they even brought Alice or Bella with them."

"Okay, so, um, what's our plan?" I asked.

He thought about it for a long moment, weighing all the pros and all the cons, and after a minute he faced me and said confidently, "For now, we wait."

I raised my eyebrows again. "You're willing to do that?" I asked.

He nodded. "For _now_. Of course, we won't be putting anything off. From this moment on, I think, we'll need to come up with a plan, and hope for any kind of news from Alice. If she chooses to contact us, that is."

I shrugged. "If you say so."

He just nodded again. Carlisle did as well, and so did Esme and Seth. Rosalie scowled and stalked off in the other direction. Stupid psycho. Emmett groaned.

"I was _hoping _for something a little more exciting than _that, _Ed," he mumbled as he followed Rosalie out. Edward laughed at him. Then he turned to me again.

"It's late, Jacob. If you're tired, you could sleep here," he offered "Go to La Push tomorrow, maybe?"

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think I'll stay here tonight. Don't mind if I use the couch, do you?"

Edward shook his head. "No, not all. Are you staying, as well, Seth?" he asked.

"Hell, yeah!" Seth said, walking over to punch my shoulder. "I'll stay here with Jake."

Edward nodded to both of us, wished us good night and then darted upstairs.

Seth and I crashed on the two couches in the big living room, and the rest of the Cullens either went out, or kept to themselves. We talked more about my journey, and he told me more about the Volturi. He agreed to come with me to La Push tomorrow and told me that Leah would probably be one of the happiest ones to see me. I doubted that; Quil would probably be happiest. Wow, Quil. I only realized then how much I'd missed him, one of my closest friends. And I'd be happy to see everyone else too. Charlie, my dad, Sue, Embry, Emily, Sam. Everyone that had been so close to me before disaster had decided to strike. I was pathetically wired that night and Seth and I stayed up talking for most of the time. But eventually, fatigue got the best of me and I passed out in the middle of Seth telling me about Charlie and Sue's supposed wedding plans.

I made a point of showering the next morning before I left for La Push. Edward loaned me clothes again, and I barely noticed the vampire smell anymore. There was snow everywhere outside, and Edward was nice enough to let Seth and I borrow his Volvo to get to La Push instead of running through the snow. Not that the cold would bother us, but still.

Nessie stayed home with Edward and the rest of her family, and I kissed her goodbye before we left.

Giddy with excitement, I sped along the road down to La Push, watching the sun glare off the snow from behind us. Seth was smiling the whole way, and told me that stop number one was his house.

I parked the car outside his little bungalow and watched Charlie peak through the curtains, with a look like horror on his face. Then he saw that it was me, and his eyes bulged dramatically. I laughed and jumped out of the car. Charlie was out of the door first, but Leah shoved right past him and ran straight to me, pulling me into…what was that? A hug? From Leah? Huh, maybe she _had _missed me after all.

"Jacob! Jacob, oh, Jacob!" she gushed as she squeezed me tightly.

I smiled and awkwardly wound my arms around her waist. I heard Seth snicker as he walked past us to give his mom a hug and run off into his house.

Leah finally let me go and there were tears streaming down her face. "I'm so happy you're okay, Jake," she said, smiling. I smiled back at her, but thought of nothing to say.

I got a similar response from Sue, who hugged me and kissed both my cheeks. She invited me in, but I told her I couldn't stay long. She made me a sandwich anyway and we sat around the kitchen table, as the same questions got asked again. Charlie was silent the whole time, just staring at me accusingly, his eyebrows all furrowed. I was sure that even though he was probably pretty terrified of me and the Cullens now, Sue would keep him sane. She held his hand under the table. That was sweet. Weird but…sweet.

It was an odd thing to be home again. Of course, it wasn't quite the same, when we were missing Bella, but this was the closest I'd been in a while. Seth and I could joke openly; act as though nothing was wrong. We tried to keep the wolf talk on the down low for Charlie's sake, but whenever we did mention something less than human, he would blanch slightly, and fade out until it was over.

We were just getting ready to leave when Leah touched my shoulder.

"Walk with me, Jacob?" she asked. I looked at Seth and he nodded. I turned back to Leah.

"Sure, let's go," I said.

She walked out of the house, and I followed after her, a little shocked but not confused. I was sort of expecting this from her. Always with the melodrama.

We were just at the road down to the beach and she was walking along beside me on the side of the street.

Leah sighed deeply. "I didn't know if you were coming back," she finally said.

I looked away, biting my lip. "I know," was my brilliant response.

"I didn't expect to miss you so much," she said, continuing. "And I didn't think I'd be so happy to see you again."

I wondered if there were tears on her face again, or if her voice was just shaking out of nervousness or something.

"I'm sorry, Leah. I was sort of just thinking of Nessie at the time," I replied. And that was true. Maybe it wasn't the brightest thing to say right now, but I was going to be truthful whether she liked it or not.

"No, I know," she complied. "But I was thinking of you. I was thinking of how if you were dead, then I'd be alone again. You're my friend, Jacob. You know that, don't you?"

I nodded stiffly. "Yeah, I know, Leah."

She put a hand on my shoulder again, and I turned around. "You weren't my friend last year," she continued, shaking her head. "But, I'm glad that you are. I really need someone like you, Jacob. You may not be in pain anymore, but I'll always be, that's inevitable. But it was crazy when you were gone. I was hardly sane. I didn't realize how much I was relying on you until you left." She finished, and smiled a little.

I took a deep breath in, and nodded, searching for something funny to say that would make this less intense. But nothing came to mind. So instead I said, "You know I'll be here for you, Leah."

_Stupid, stupid, stupid thing to say, Jacob. You can't say that. It's _Leah_. _

But I couldn't bring myself to regret the words, not yet. Because before I had time to react, Leah pulled me into her arms again and hugged me fiercely. I put my arms around her, too, just because I guessed that I had missed her. We hugged for maybe longer than friends did, and she buried her face in my chest, maybe crying again. I couldn't be sure, because I didn't look at her face.

"Come on, Lee-lee, maybe we should head back," I said finally. It didn't feel weird using her nickname, it felt normal.

She smiled and sighed, pulling away from me. We both walked back to Sue's house side-by-side.

Next was Emily's place where I got the same kind of response, only everyone was there. I mean everyone. The whole pack, all the guys. I was surprised that they were all crammed inside Em's small little kitchen.

The minute I opened the door, the first set of eyes I met were Quil's. He was looking at me, the biggest, stupidest grin on his face. I grinned back, almost laughing.

He ran right up to me, pulling me into a vice tight hug. I was getting way too many hugs lately. But I hugged Quil back the hardest, laughing freely.

Finally he pulled away, and looked at me, grinning again.

"Nice to see you, man!" he practically shouted.

I shrugged, faking nonchalance. "Yeah, thought I'd stop by."

He laughed and punched my shoulder. I messed his hair, and shoved him in reply. That started the rest of them, Emily, Sam, Embry, everyone. I was attacked by all the guys, hugs galore. Emily kissed my cheeks softly, and my forehead, too. Sam patted my shoulder, hugging me too, of course.

"Glad to have you back, Alpha," he muttered. I smiled.

After the onslaught, Emily made muffins and cookies and snacks and everything. We sat around, laughing, and eating, and I shared my story again with everyone.

There was the usual out burst when I mentioned the arrest. Yeah, laughter. Everyone seemed to think _that _was pretty hilarious. Embry and Quil were all but dying.

"And I thought you were the softy, Jake," Embry commented. I threw the remainder of my cookie at him.

But Emily looked concerned, and so did Sam.

"That's so strange that they would release you so easily," Sam said, now not the only person who'd mentioned that.

"Yeah, Edward said that, too. But it doesn't really matter now, I just can't go back to Canada. Which, to be honest, I really don't mind."

The guys all laughed again, but Sam looked away, his brow furrowing.

I spent the whole afternoon at Emily's, staying for dinner, too. This had to be home. There was nothing better. Even knowing that Bella was off somewhere in Italy, I couldn't find myself to be worried right then. A part of my mind had this feeling like, _Well obviously we're going to get her back. That's just how things work out. _And, being honest again, I really had no problem agreeing with that at the time.

**Oh my god, let's not kill the author now. Yes, yes there was some Jake and Leah KINDSHIP. I promise, promise, promise, that it is NOTHING- I reapeat NOTHING- but friendship. I'm strongly anit- Jake-and- Leah. Jake and Nessie forerver, yo. Uhm, so yeah, that's all, don't freak, si vous plais. =] And, yeah, review, I guess? **


	15. Chapter 15

**Aren't I awful for making you wait so long? Seriously, you should all come kill me. I'm terrible. But here it is, I hope (keyword, HOPE) this was worth the wait.**

Chapter 13.

Bella Cullen.

I was going to die here.

Perhaps not literally, but I felt like death would be better than this. Anything would be better than this.

To the naked eye, life was leisurely, easy. But inwardly, I was in a state of fear every second of the day. When you lived with the Volturi against your will, it wasn't as peaceful as the regulars made it look.

There was the daily feeding. That was the only time I ever saw Alice. Every other time of day, I was forbidden to see her. I didn't want to think of the consequences of trying to see her any other time. Because I knew the punishment would not be directly inflicted on me, but back home, to my loved ones…what was left of them, anyway. And _that _would hurt me far worse than if they took my life now. Of course, they knew that. They knew me.

The feeding was also hard because I still refused to drink the blood of the humans that they recruited. Even when they tempted me so, me, a new born vampire, I was able to resist. Because I had to resist, it was who I was. Being there, surrounded by these monsters, was not going to change me. Alice and I would sit at opposite ends of the room, watching as the beautifully faced men and women of the Volturi tore innocent humans apart. The scent of blood was almost impossible to ignore, but I was somehow able to. I was somehow able to remember who I was. Alice would nod at me when she saw my commitment, and then look away, avoiding any contact. It was for the best, I knew, but it still stung to know that I could barely even look at my sister.

Then there was the time that we were required to spend with Aro and the others. Every evening at the same time I would be called to their little room of horrors and they would throw questions at me, and I would always notice Renata trying desperately to make me an endearing, helpless slave in the Volturi's hands. She never succeeded, thanks to my mental shield. I forced my way through every session, knowing that I was never going to be hopeless to the monsters. I would never change.

But slowly I watched as Alice changed. I watched as she became the endearing, helpless slave to them. It all came crashing down on me for the first time about a month after we'd arrived.

New Year's Eve had passed, and the tourists were all over the city. Heidi and some of the others brought 'home' a lot of humans that night. Curious, foolish tourists who had no idea that their life was nearly over.

I was sitting alone in the waiting room with Gianna, ignoring her as she ignored me, when they all passed me by. A few of the more enthusiastic humans waved to me and smiled. I shook my head at them resentfully, wishing there was some way I could tell them their life was about to end.

"Come on, Bella," Felix sneered. I glared at him and rose from the couch to follow him and the humans into the room. Alice was already there. But she wasn't looking remorseful or dismal; she was looking excited in anticipation. I could see it her eyes, a new kind of enthusiasm that hadn't been there last night.

I frowned at her but she never looked at me; just continued looking on in anticipation with a slight grin on her face that I couldn't quite place. My eyes widened, and I continued on to my lonely end of the room, far in the back of the crowd. The scene was impossible to miss though, in the large circular room. Aro was putting on the usual show.

"Welcome, guests, welcome to Volterra," he was saying. I made a sound of disgust in my throat. Then he gave the inevitable silent cue and the screaming began. I closed my eyes as they killed and fed on the humans. I felt sunlight beat on my eyes, from the small window above my head, and my eyes squinted open, as I looked up at the sun and felt the rays glance off my skin. I sighed deeply and tried to tune out the screaming. But in the instant that my eyes had opened, I saw a sight that crushed me, that made me feel literally as though I was falling through the Earth, losing my last hold on my myself and sanity.

Alice approached one of the cowering humans, a young man, handsome and strong looking. His eyes kept darting to the pretty girl that was being torn apart in Demetri's hands. Alice smiled alluringly at him, and locked her hands around his neck, snapping it in one blow. Then, in a stereotypical kind of way, she leaned into his neck and began to drink.

Could vampires faint? It felt like I would. I stared at the scene before me with wide eyes, shocked at what I was seeing. My breath came in gasps, and I closed my eyes again, covering them with my hands, too. When I felt the energy around me fade, when the sound of laughter and the breaking of bones and screaming had passed, I felt it safe to reopen my eyes. The last of the bodies were being disposed of by Alec and Felix. I took a deep breath in through my nose, and stood, stepping out of the room and back to the couch, where I slumped and sat until the correct amount of hours passed and the sun would be fully set in the sky.

I would go out tonight. When it was dark and tranquil, I would go into the city. They'd send me with an escort of course, but I wouldn't mind that. I needed the air. Not literally, but I needed the space.

I wasn't sure what I was planning on accomplishing that night, because I knew it wasn't the space I longed for. Unconsciously, I found myself making plans for escape, but that seemed very foolish. People I loved would suffer dearly if I left now. So maybe it was just the city lights I craved, a little of bit free time. Well, as free as you can while being held captive by a family of monstrous vampire elders. Felix would be naturally in a good mood after feeding, so I approached him where he was leisurely flirting with Gianna. I tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around to grin at me.

"Bella," he said, flustered, his eyes a perfect ruby red. "Hello." He grinned in his confident little way.

"Take me out tonight?" I asked, with only the slightest inflection. It didn't have to be a question, he was going to oblige.

Naturally, he smirked. "Of course. It is a lovely night, don't you think?"

I smiled indifferently and held my arm out. He raised his eyebrows at my abruptness but took my arm around his and led me in the direction of the exit.

We were required to wear the ghastly black robes most of the time. But it was late, and Felix recommended I leave mine behind for the evening, as he planned to do.

"Why hide your pretty little frame?" he'd said, as I'd rolled my eyes.

So we left the robes behind and walked along the cobbled road under the night sky. The moon had risen, and I looked at it with a kind of longing, wondering if Edward was seeing the same moon right now. What was the time zone like from Italy to Washington? I sighed as I thought of it.

Felix took my arm again. "Alright, beautiful?"

I gave a disapproving look. "I was thinking of my husband, actually," I said slightly cuttingly.

Of course Felix was unperturbed. "Such a pity, isn't it?"

I looked at him with an odd kind of expression. "What's a pity?"

He waved his free hand. "Oh, only that you probably won't see him for a while. A millennium may _sound _like a long time now, but immortality makes time like that pass quickly. But, I don't think you'll ever be going home." He sighed as though he were actually upset by my pain.

I pulled my arm free from his. I should have known this would be his behavior, it was always his behavior. He took my hand instead, and I wasn't strong enough to pull away. Newborn vampire or not, he was so much stronger than me…

I looked away. But then I remembered my initial mission. I needed to get information out of this guy, I needed to smuggle myself some answers. But I was going to need to be sneaky. I decided to act nonchalant, knowing that if he thought perhaps I didn't care, and then unintended information might slip.

So I wound my arm back around his and grinned. "Ah, Felix. A pity indeed," I said.

He raised his eyebrows. "Don't you think so?" he asked.

I shrugged. "It's been worse," I lied. "I don't mind it so much here…" I looked at him with false significance.

He stared at me, highly disbelieving. "I was quite under the impression that you were miserable, to be perfectly frank."

I smiled again. "Well perhaps a millennium will convert me."

He laughed, licking his lips. He led me to a bench on the sidewalk, and he sat beside me. Sitting wasn't really something I wanted, only because I didn't really need to sit, but it did bring more of a contrast between us, which worked out well for my plan.

He draped an arm over my shoulders. I took a deep breath, trying not to stand up and leave him sitting there, the menace. I forced myself to look at him. How was I going to approach this?

I placed a hand on his leg as though it was a natural thing. There was only the slightest change of expression on his face. He went from being cocky and superior, to cocky and triumphant, and a little flustered. His grin grew more pronounced.

I'd done this before. Not quite so brusquely, but still. I'd flirted with Jacob that night so long ago to get information out of him. Sure, at the time we'd both been human, but Felix was not as easy to get secrets out of. I was going to have to sell myself over perhaps a little more with him than I had with Jacob, because Felix had centuries of experience to notice girls being flirtatious. But he was also an easy man to seduce.

It didn't feel as strange doing flirtatious things now that I was a vampire. I knew Felix thought I was beautiful, just as beautiful as Heidi or anyone else here. So it felt almost too easy to bat my eyelashes and grin at him, all the while my hand on his leg.

For a few short moments I thought I had him. But then his hand caught the one on his leg and he shook his head, still grinning.

"Bella," he said, sternly but with an undercurrent of amusement. "You really shouldn't do this to yourself."

I looked at him innocently, trying not to let my cover be blown. "Do what?"

He pulled his arm off my shoulders, and ran his hand through his hair. "Embarrass yourself this way. You really aren't fooling anyone," he relied.

Crap. I _knew _he'd see right through me. I should have expected it.

_Don't let him see the emotion on your face, come on, keep up the show._

"Who says I'm trying to fool anyone? I asked you out for a rea--,"

He placed two fingers over my mouth. I very strongly resisted the urge to smack him away. I think he saw the disgust on my face, and I tried to draw it back, to keep the same expression on my face.

He smirked and shook his head. "I'm not telling you anything, Bella."

I couldn't help but frown. "But you _know_," I protested. "What's really going on here, Felix? What is going to happen to my family? I'm only here for them. "

He stood up and smiled. "That's exactly what I thought. Sorry Bella, that's not for you to know."

Suddenly, I was fuming. "The hell it's not!" I almost shouted, rising from the bench as well to stare at him accusingly. I knew that if I could cry, there would be tears in my eyes from the anger. I shook my head fiercely, feeling the dry stinging in my eyes instead.

He laughed, and it almost sent me over the edge. I could have _hit _him so hard right then, and I would _make _him feel it. "Silly Bella. I think it's time you forgot the past now, wouldn't you agree?"

I gasped. "Oh, Felix. That's where your wrong. My family is not the past. It never will be. They are my present, and they will always be my future. No matter how long you keep me here," I finished my little rant of truth and started to back away. "I'm going back."

He shrugged, walking off and I stalked off behind him, hating myself for not getting the proper use out of this evening. I was still going back to that awful place, and I would still be there tomorrow. But I did know two things.

There _was _something planned for my family, Felix had made it obvious.

And two, never again would I try to seduce anything out of him.

**A/N**

**Dig it? Hmm? Yes, no, maybe so? Well, see basically, it's like this. This chapter was just a transition, a little look into what I know you're all dying to know. "Is Bella deaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad?" Answer, no! Isn't it peachy?**

**Oh, and don't worry about this Alice situation, it's ALL meant to be. Muahaha.**

**Read, review, enjoy. Forgive my failure-ness and lack of updates.**

**Might be a while till the next one. Has anyone else noticed that I'm making this story up as I go along? 'Cause I am. But I got it all planned out now. Won't be too much longer either. Gosh, not all fanfics have to have sex and Edward, and be 50 chapters long! All things that mine lack. Fail. But not really.**

**I'm rambling. Sorry ya'll. Anyways, yeah. Review. **


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